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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23761609">Evergreen Ridge Virus Hell</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinecontents/pseuds/pinecontents'>pinecontents</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sohox/pseuds/sohox'>sohox</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rhett &amp; Link</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Never Met, M/M, Quarantine, Sharing a Bed, Strangers to Lovers, THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 17:39:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>29,257</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23761609</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinecontents/pseuds/pinecontents, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sohox/pseuds/sohox</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>One minute, Link's on his way home from a successful international business trip, and the next minute* he's quarantined for two weeks in a hotel with everyone else from the plane. The hotel isn't big enough for everyone to have their own room, and there are only so many rooms with two beds...</p>
<p>*actually about sixteen hours</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>231</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>193</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Let it be known that I started this on February 15th, a good month before everything hit the fan in the US. This is not to make light of COVID-19 in any way. Stay safe and wash your hands, everyone.</p>
<p>Many thanks, as always, to @sohox for her support and friendship and writing the sex scenes.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hell, Link realized, was an airplane. Specifically, a Boeing 747. </p>
<p>Growing up, the church had told him hell was the absence of God’s love. Popular culture told him it was a lake of fire surrounded by demons with pitchforks. Link had spent decades consumed with fear, guilt, and anxiety over coming up short and being damned before leaving those beliefs behind and vowing to just be the best possible person he could be. Surely God would understand that.</p>
<p>But here he was in hell anyway, and he wasn’t even dead.</p>
<p>The day had started well, or as well enough as any day involving a trans-Atlantic flight could. Link had spent the previous week in Paris meeting with a company that made fuel cells that his company hoped to partner with for their experimental electric helicopter. It had gone even better than he hoped, and Link was excited to get back to California and begin the new project.</p>
<p>The plane had been en route for nearly eight hours when someone in first class began having trouble breathing. The captain got on the intercom and informed everyone that their flight was going to be landing at the nearest airport, which turned out to be Bangor International in Maine, due to the medical emergency.</p>
<p>Link had groaned internally at that, of course, but he wasn’t about to complain out loud. It wasn’t like there was anything he could do about it. He did feel bad for the woman sitting next to him, who had two kids with her. That had to be difficult, even though they were remarkably well behaved.</p>
<p>An ambulance was waiting to meet them when they landed, and the captain announced that they would be on their way as soon as air traffic control cleared them and asked that everyone remained seated, but they were welcome to use their electronic devices. Link was hopeful that he might not miss his connecting flight, but he texted his boss and mother, just in case.</p>
<p>Ninety minutes later, his hopes had been dashed. They were still on the tarmac. The captain got back on the intercom.</p>
<p>“Ladies and gentlemen, I have some bad news.” The captain had a lovely voice, contralto with a Mississippi drawl. Link wondered if it was her real accent. He’d read some article about the way pilots were trained to speak, and there’d been something about certain accents making travelers trust the pilot more.</p>
<p>As for Link, he did his best to minimize his accent. A rural Southern accent didn’t go over too well in the California tech world.</p>
<p>The pilot continued. “Our flight has been indefinitely delayed.” All the passengers groaned in unison, and a few started shouting. “That’s all the information I have at this time. I apologize for any inconvenience, but there’s nothing we can do. The ground crew is going to supply us with food, so the flight attendants are going to come around and ask if anyone has special dietary needs. I ask that you stay in your seats until the meals have been served, but after that you are welcome to move about.”</p>
<p>Link glanced over at the woman next to him. She had an expression of shocked dismay on her face. Link assumed it mirrored his own face.</p>
<p>“What do we do?” she asked. She had a lot of curly brown hair and a French accent. Her two kids, a little girl and an older boy, whispered to each other in French.</p>
<p>“I guess we wait,” Link said. He held out his hand. “My name is Link.”</p>
<p>The woman shook it. “I am Yvette, and this is Charlie and Manon.”</p>
<p>Link laughed. “Link is a nickname. My real name is Charles, too.”</p>
<p>“Ah, you hear that?” Yvette turned to her kids. “He is also Charlie.”</p>
<p>It was nice to have someone to talk to. Yvette was headed to Chicago to visit her sister. Link chatted with her kids, and kept an eye on them so Yvette could go to the bathroom. She made a lot of calls in French. Link made some calls himself, to his boss and his mother. His boss was exasperated and his mother was worried, just as Link suspected they would be.</p>
<p>One of the flight attendants got on the intercom. Everyone would be getting a box lunch, a choice of ham, turkey, or veggie sandwiches. This pronouncement was met with groans, boos, and hollered curse words. Link hoped the passengers wouldn’t take their frustration out on the flight attendants as they began walking down the aisle.</p>
<p>“Any dietary restriction?” the attendant asked as she reached Link’s row. She looked stressed out and slightly disheveled, like she’d been awake for far too long.</p>
<p>“No,” Link said.</p>
<p>“Ham, turkey, veggie?”</p>
<p>“Ham.”</p>
<p>The attendant took Yvette’s order and moved on.</p>
<p>“This is bad, no?” Yvette said. “A bad sign, to bring us lunch. I think we will be here for a long time.”</p>
<p>“You’re probably right.” Link had passed through annoyance and anger and arrived at a zenlike state of resignation. Whatever happened would happen, and he was just along for the ride. He hadn’t yet realized he was in hell.</p>
<p>The box lunches arrived about half an hour later. Ham and swiss on a slightly stale croissant, an apple, a bag of chips, a granola bar, and a bottle of water. Link ate the sandwich and the apple, saved the chips for later, and gave the granola bar to Yvette. Her kids were starting to get whiny and upset. Link didn’t blame them, but he wasn’t happy about it, either.</p>
<p>Just as the last of the lunches were handed out and people started to get up and move around, the captain came back on the intercom.</p>
<p>“Ladies and gentlemen, I have someone who can give you an update.” There was a little burst of static and then a new voice came out of the speakers.</p>
<p>“Ladies, gentlemen, and those of you who don’t fit neatly into either category, my name is Dr. Thomas Farr, and I work with the CDC. The passenger who was taken to the hospital had been traveling in North Africa. You may recall from the news that there is a new virus outbreak there. We believe that the passenger who was taken to the hospital has contracted the virus.”</p>
<p>There was a moment of silence before all the passengers started talking at once. Link looked over at Yvette, jaw dropped. “What is CDC?” she asked.</p>
<p>“The Center for Disease Control,” Link said. </p>
<p>“He thinks we are sick?” Yvette looked at her kids, terrified. Charlie was playing a game on a tablet and Manon was asleep.</p>
<p>“I think he thinks we are <em>maybe</em> sick.” Dr. Farr was speaking over the intercom, but Link couldn’t understand him over the other passengers. Eventually, they quieted down and Dr. Farr continued.</p>
<p>“This virus is extremely contagious and so far, no one in North America has contracted it. There is no good way to break this news, so I’ll just come out and say it: everyone on this plane is in quarantine, effective immediately.”</p>
<p>This was met with an immediate outburst of anger from all the passengers. Link joined in this time. “What the <em>fuck</em>?” he yelled. Yvette shot him an annoyed look and jerked her head at the kids. Link grimaced, chagrined. “Sorry,” he whispered.</p>
<p>Dr. Farr waited for the noise to die down before continuing. “This quarantine will be for a minimum of two weeks,” he began. There was another collective groan. “As you obviously can’t stay on an airplane for two weeks, we are preparing a hotel for you to stay at. However, this will take several hours to set everything up and in the meantime, you must stay on the plane. Everyone will be given a brief physical, and then you will be driven to the hotel. We will have more details for you at that time. I apologize for any inconvenience and thank you in advance for your cooperation and understanding.” </p>
<p>Link was stunned into silence. How long were they going to be on this plane? And then two weeks at a hotel? <em>This sucks</em>, Link thought.</p>
<p>“This is very bad, no?” Yvette asked.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Link said weakly. “Very bad.”</p>
<p>They ended up being on the grounded plane for eleven hours. It was the worst thing that had ever happened to Link. The flight attendants played a couple movies (<em>National Treasure</em> and <em>Apollo 13</em>). More snacks were handed out, and then the little bottles of liquor made an appearance. The passengers gradually split into two groups: a rowdy cluster of partiers in the back, and quieter ones in the front. </p>
<p>Link drank two little bottles of whiskey even though he’d accompanied Yvette and her kids up to the front of the plane. He was in the uncomfortable place between being too tipsy to be sober and too sober to enjoy being tipsy. <em>I am in hell</em>, he realized.</p>
<p>The hours passed in a blur. Link tried to sleep, but the inebriates in the back were having a pop song singalong, and there were several crying children. His cell phone died, his laptop died (he let Yvette play movies for her kids on it), he ate all his chips. Link was ready to cry himself.</p>
<p>While the passengers were trapped on the plane, the CDC was busy outside. They’d apparently called in the National Guard, who were putting up a series of tents outside the plane and surrounded the whole thing with a chain link fence. Two large buses were parked nearby. Link’s eyebrows shot up when he looked out the window. The CDC was not playing around.</p>
<p>Eventually, Dr. Farr got back on the intercom. “I would like to thank you for your cooperation over the last eleven hours. I know you are frustrated, scared, and angry, but you have all been extremely cooperative.” That was true. Shockingly, no one had caused a scene or blown up. He continued. “At this time, we will begin letting people off the plane. You’ll be taken to one of the tents for a brief physical and then loaded onto the buses. Please take all your carry on items with you. Your luggage will be delivered at a later time.”</p>
<p>Yvette muttered something in French. Link didn’t understand the words, but he certainly understood her tone.</p>
<p>“If everyone will kindly take a seat, we can begin. Families travelling with children or people who require assistance will be taken first, followed by people travelling together, and finally people travelling alone.” Link made a face. Figured he’d be the last off.</p>
<p>The captain turned on the fasten seatbelt sign. Link snorted a little at that. The flight attendants spent about twenty minutes wrangling the drunk passengers into a seat, any seat, please just sit down, ma’am.</p>
<p>When everyone was finally seated, the flight attendant opened the door of the plane. A man appeared. He wore a respirator mask and a hazmat coverall. A chill went through Link. This was real. They were in danger. For the first time, he was genuinely scared.</p>
<p>Charlie and Manon were scared, too. They happened to be sitting very near the front, and the CDC man approached. Manon burst into tears. Yvette tried to comfort her, but she was having none of it.</p>
<p>“Ma’am, if you’ll get your things, I can take you off the plane,” he said in a muffled voice. Yvette nodded and began trying to get her baggage and children. Link helped as much as he could, but the CDC man ended up carrying Manon’s Frozen backpack and Yvette’s travel bag. Charlie was doing his best to be helpful by carrying his own bag even though he was clearly terrified and clinging to Yvette’s leg.</p>
<p>“You’re gonna be fine, buddy,” Link said to him. “I promise, from one Charles to another.” He held out his fist and Charlie gave him a fist bump. The family was whisked away, and Link was suddenly alone even though he was surrounded by several hundred people.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was another two hours before Link was allowed to leave the plane. By that time, he’d been on it for twenty one hours straight. He was tired, sore, frustrated, and completely discombobulated. Link didn’t even know what time it was, only that it was dark outside.</p><p>Link slung on his backpack followed the masked CDC minion through first class and off the plane. First class was empty except for a man lying flat on his back on the floor in the other aisle, arguing with one of the flight attendants. Link walked by too fast to really hear anything, although he did catch the man saying something about an injury to his back, and the flight attendant saying, “Sir…” in her best <em>please calm down</em> customer service voice. </p><p>He hoped all the flight attendants would get hazard pay or massive overtime or something. They’d been completely professional and composed the entire time. Link was seriously impressed.</p><p>“Oh!” he exclaimed softly as he exited the plane. The door was at least twenty feet above the tarmac. Link had only entered and exited a plane through the jet bridge, and he’d never realized how <em>huge</em> a 747 was. A set of aluminum stairs had been set up and were illuminated by several large lamps.</p><p>Link was also surprised at how cold it was. His thick hoodie had been fine for Paris, but he was not prepared for Maine. He followed the CDC person down the stairs, shivering. The handrail of the staircase was freezing, and by the time they reached the bottom, Link’s hand was entirely numb. He wrapped his arms around himself and stuffed his frigid hands into his armpits. It didn’t help.</p><p>The CDC person led him to one of the tents, which was brightly lit up inside and blessedly heated. Link sat in a chair as directed. There was a little office set up on the other side of the tent, and the CDC person (Link could not determine their gender) opened their laptop. They scanned Link’s ID, took his picture and demographics, and printed out a hospital bracelet with a barcode on it.</p><p>“Do not take this off under any circumstances, do you understand?” the CDC person said as they fastened it around Link’s wrist.</p><p>“Yes, uh…” Usually Link would say <em>yes ma’am</em> or <em>yes sir</em>, so he floundered for a moment before rallying. “I understand.”</p><p>At this point, another masked CDC person entered. Link was relatively certain this one was a woman, judging by the ample chest. He also gathered that she was a nurse, as she introduced herself as one, and proceeded to take his height and weight (self reported), checked his pulse, blood oxygen, and temperature before swabbing his nose and throat. Link did not enjoy that, nor did he enjoy it when she drew a vial of blood.</p><p>Link was so tired. He should have been home hours ago, but instead he was trapped in what seemed like the beginning of a post-apocalyptic story. Obviously, he was one of the zombies.</p><p>The nurse left. A male seeming CDC minion came in. He introduced himself as a doctor, and listened to Link’s chest, looked in his eyes, nose, and ears, did some other medical stuff. Link was at the point where he was beginning to nod off, and the doctor had to shake him awake to ask a question.</p><p>“What’d you say?” Link mumbled.</p><p>“I asked if you’re having any flu-like symptoms, or if you feel sick at all.”</p><p>Link shook his head. “No, I just feel like shit because I’ve been on a plane forever.”</p><p>The doctor turned to the person of indeterminate gender. Link slumped in the chair and nodded off as they conversed. The next thing he knew, the mysterious CDC worker was shaking him awake. Link came into consciousness with a start.</p><p>“Sorry,” the CDC person said. “You’ve been cleared to go to the hotel, so I’m going to take you to the bus. Once it’s full, they’ll take you to the hotel.</p><p>Link put on his backpack. “Imma sleep on the bus,” he said, and he did.</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</p><p>The bus was only half full, so Link stumbled to the nearest window seat--the front row, right behind the driver. He pulled up his hood, leaned against the window, and passed out.</p><p>He jolted awake when someone nudged his shoulder. “We’re here,” said the person next to him. Link straightened up and rubbed his face before looking around. The guy in the next seat was the man who’d been lying on the floor in first class. He had curly dark blond hair and a matching beard, and his face was pinched with pain and exhaustion.</p><p>“Thanks,” Link mumbled. He held his hands up around his eyes and peered through the window. It had to be just before dawn, because the sky was a little lighter. His eyebrows shot up at what he saw. “Whoa. <em>This</em> is our hotel?”</p><p>The bus was parked in front of a large building that looked like a cross between an Alpine cabin and a mid-century modern house with a sloping roof and a wall of big glass windows. It was surrounded by pine trees.</p><p>“It’s a ski lodge,” the man next to him said. “It’s in the middle of nowhere. We’ve been driving for hours.”</p><p>“To isolate us, do you think?” Link said.</p><p>“Probably,” the blond guy said. He opened his mouth to say something else, but the bus door opened and another masked and coveralled figure appeared. It wasn’t the same type of mask and coverall as the CDC people wore, so Link assumed this one was from the National Guard.</p><p>A few people started shouting questions, but the new masked figure held up their hands. “Ladies and gentlemen.” A male voice. “Because we have limited space at the moment, those of you who have been travelling alone will have to share rooms.” This was met with the usual chorus of boos and groans.</p><p>The presumed National Guard guy waited for it to die down. “You may choose your own roommates if you wish. If you haven’t, we’ll find someone for you once you’re inside. Please exit the bus in an orderly manner and follow me to the lobby.” </p><p>Link looked at the guy next to him, who looked back. “You wanna…?” Link began as he put his backpack on.</p><p>“Yeah, sure, whatever. I need to lie down ASAP,” the blond man said as he stood. “Um...can you hand me my bag? I can’t bend over. My back...”</p><p>“Sure, man.” Link leaned over and grabbed the backpack. It was huge and heavy. “Are you sure you can carry this?”</p><p>“Uh…”</p><p>“I got it, it’s fine.” Link held the bag in his arms and followed the taller man off the bus and towards the hotel. A faux-rustic sign over the entrance read <em>Evergreen Ridge Ski Resort</em>. “Ooh, fancy.” The other man just grunted.</p><p>Inside, more masked figures directed them to line up the front desk, as they were already paired. Link set down the heavy bag and held out his hand. “I should probably introduce myself. Link Neal.”</p><p>The other man shook it. “Rhett McLaughlin.” That was apparently all he had to say. Eventually, it was their turn to check in. There were two masked people at the desk, one National Guardsman with a laptop, and one at a desktop computer who seemed to be a hotel employee. Link wondered how she’d been convinced to expose herself to a possibly deadly virus.</p><p>The National Guardsman scanned their barcode bracelets while the hotel employee checked them in, just as if they were there for a vacation, only they didn’t have to pay anything.</p><p>“Okay, you’ll be in room 304,” the receptionist said as she handed each of them a keycard. “Take a left when you get off the elevator.”</p><p>“We will email you with additional logistics as they are worked out,” the Guardsman said. “Go get some sleep for now.”</p><p>Link hauled up Rhett’s bag and followed another pair of people to the elevator. They were all silent as it ascended. Everyone was too tired and upset to socialize.</p><p>They got off the elevator and Link followed Rhett to their room. His hands were full, so Rhett unlocked it and went in. Link trailed behind him. “What the…” Rhett said.</p><p>“What?” Link peered around Rhett’s shoulder. “Oh. Um…”</p><p>The room contained a single king size bed.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Okay, look,” Rhett began. “I am going to take some painkillers and go to sleep. You can do whatever you want, go downstairs to argue, sleep on the floor, sleep in the bed, I don’t care.”</p><p>Link was too tired to go back downstairs. He looked at the bed, looked at the floor, and looked back at the bed. “You don’t think sleeping in a bed with a stranger is weird?”</p><p>“Let me clarify: Yes, it is weird, but I’m going to be unconscious. I am not going to notice, and I assume you’re not going to do anything but fall asleep yourself.” Rhett gestured to his bag. “Can you put that up on the desk so I can get my pills out?”</p><p>“Oh, sure.” Link hoisted the bag up onto the desk. “Goodness, this is heavy.”</p><p>“Mm.” Rhett dug around and pulled out an orange pill bottle and a half full bottle of water. He shook out two pills and swallowed them. “Hope you don’t mind if I sleep in boxers.”</p><p>“Uh, no?” Link really had no idea what was or wasn’t okay. He could figure it out once he’s gotten some rest. </p><p>Rhett started pulling off his shirt, and Link realized that he was not okay with watching him undress. “I’m, um, I’m going to take a shower.” Rhett said something as Link fled to the bathroom, but he didn’t catch it and he wasn’t about to stick around.</p><p>The bathroom was a pretty standard hotel bathroom. Link grabbed the little bottles of shampoo and body wash and turned on the water. He was so tired that he nearly fell asleep against the shower wall and forgot to wash his hair. He got out, toweled himself dry, and put his boxers and t-shirt back on.</p><p>Rhett was already asleep when Link came out. He was flat on his back on the far side of the bed, breathing evenly. Link stood next to the bed and stared at it. Sharing a bed with a stranger was not something he really wanted to do, but he was so tired. Maybe tomorrow (although dawn was breaking--it was already tomorrow) he could get a room transfer or something.</p><p>Link lifted the covers and slid beneath them. He closed his eyes and passed out immediately.</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</p><p><em>Shit, I must have overslept</em>, Link thought as he became conscious. He didn’t have to open his eyes to tell that daylight was streaming into the room. Slowly, he remembered what happened before he fell asleep. The plane, the quarantine, the ski lodge, the hotel room with the one bed and the stranger on the other side of it… a stranger whose shoulder, Link realized with horror, he had his forehead pressed against. He opened his eyes and pulled away with a yelp.</p><p>“Oh my god, I am <em>so</em> sorry,” Link said as he scooted as far away as he could and still stay on the mattress. “I didn’t mean--”</p><p>The other man in the bed waved his hand dismissively. “You’re fine. It didn’t bother me.” Rhett went back to scrolling through Twitter on his phone. “You should check your email, though.”</p><p>Link leaned over and grabbed his joggers from the floor. He always wore elastic waist pants while travelling--no belt to take off in security and much more comfortable. “Why?” he asked as he pulled them on under the covers.</p><p>“They sent everyone like eight emails,” Rhett replied, not looking up from his phone. “All kinds of information.”</p><p>“Oh.” Link slid out of bed and picked his phone up off the bedside table. He’d been too tired to plug it in and it was still dead. “Dammit.” His laptop was dead, too. Link fished the chargers out of his bag and plugged them both in. He sat on the floor and opened his laptop. “Is there a WiFi password?”</p><p>“No, it’s open. They don’t want you to post too much on social media, though,” Rhett said. “Somebody already started a private Facebook group, though. It’s called ‘Help I’m Trapped in Evergreen Ridge Virus Hell’”.</p><p>Link huffed a laugh out his nose and opened his email. Rhett was right about the emails. Link counted them--nine. He sighed and opened the oldest first. He skimmed it quickly and moved on to the others.</p><p>There was really too much information for him to deal with so early in the morni--right after waking up. The clock in the corner of his screen informed him that it was almost 3pm. Between that and the jet lag, Link’s sleep schedule was entirely out of whack.</p><p>The main things he took away were that there was a buffet set up in the lodge’s restaurant on the first floor, their luggage had been brought over, and there was a signup for laundry. Link closed the laptop and got out his toothbrush.</p><p>What was the correct etiquette for interacting with your bedmate stranger? Link wondered as he brushed his teeth and splashed water on his face. He decided on friendly, but in a distanced, professional way.</p><p>“I’m gonna go downstairs for a while,” he told Rhett as he slipped on his sneakers. “I’ll ask if we can get moved to a room with two beds.”</p><p>“Okay. Good luck.” Rhett was still engrossed with his phone, typing furiously. Link exited the room and left him to it.</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~</p><p>Link was starving. He didn’t even know when he last had a real meal. Airport food didn’t count, what they served on the plane <em>really</em> didn’t count, so it had to have been in Paris sometime. Between the time zone changes, the awful stay in airplane hell, and waking up at 3pm, it was at least over twenty four hours ago.</p><p>Evergreen Ridge had a large restaurant called The Maine Event. Link rolled his eyes at the name, but it smelled amazing, so he made a beeline towards it. There was a buffet set up, overseen by another masked and coveralled figure. National Guard, Link thought. He joined the short buffet line and wondered if the food was catered in, or if there was a kitchen full of people in full Hazmat gear somewhere. The visual made him smile to himself.</p><p>When he got to the front of the line, Link grabbed a plate. The food was Italian, with lasagna (both meat and eggplant), salad, pasta with meatballs and sauces on the side, baked chicken, garlic bread… Link was in heaven. He piled his plate high and took a bite of garlic bread as he looked around for a place to sit.</p><p>It was a pretty nice space, with large plate glass windows on three sides and faux-rustic knotty pine. Link saw his seatmate from the plane, Yvette, with her two kids, so he walked over. “Mind if I sit with you?”</p><p>“Oh, please!” Yvette turned to her kids and said something to them in French. Based on her tone of voice and body language, Link assumed it was something along the lines of <em>You better be on your best behavior, understand</em>? “How did you sleep?” she asked.</p><p>“Like a log,” Link replied, hiding his full mouth behind his hand. “How about you?”</p><p>Yvette pursed her lips. “I have Manon <em>here</em> and Charlie <em>here</em>,” she said, indicating her sides. Charlie and Manon paid them no attention, as they were completely focused on playing a game on their tablet.  “They have bad dreams and kick me all night.”</p><p>“Dreams about the mask people?” Link paused in shoving salad in his mouth to ask. They gave him the creeps, covered up as they were, the only visible skin under their clear goggles. He’d been terrified of the suited government agents when he watched <em>E.T.</em> as a child. Real suited government agents had to be even worse for a little kid.</p><p>“<em>Oui</em>,” Yvette said. She looked at her kids to see if they were listening, but they were in another world, so she leaned across the table towards Link. “They scare me, too.”</p><p>Link nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Honestly, the whole thing is scary.” He still hadn’t fully come to terms with the situation. It still felt more like an inconvenience, as if he’d missed a flight and had to wait for the next day, than a life-threatening situation. “Let’s talk about something else.”</p><p>They talked for a while about what Link found strange in France (how common smoking was, no peanut butter) and what Yvette found strange in America (everyone is so friendly and enthusiastic! Also, pumpkin pie). Eventually the conversation turned to language. Link took four years of French in high school and remembered almost none of it. Yvette studied English ever since she was a child, and Charlie and Manon were currently taking it in school.</p><p>“They’ll probably be fluent by the time we get out of here,” Link said. There were quite a few other kids at the ski lodge, and a couple of them were running around the lobby. </p><p>Yvette laughed. “Half of them, they are French, too.”</p><p>“Oh.” Link felt a little stupid for not realizing that. He wiped the last of the marinara sauce off his plate with a bit of garlic bread and stuffed it in his mouth. “I’m gonna go get my luggage now. Thanks for letting me sit with you.”</p><p>“Yes, of course,” Yvette replied. “Any time you like.” The children continued to ignore them both.</p><p>Link took his plate up to a tub monitored by one of the mask people and then wandered off to find his suitcase. The resort had a few large rooms that Link supposed were for meetings or weddings or parties, and one of them had been filled with hundreds of suitcases. His heart sank as he started looking through them. A few other people were already there.</p><p>As he inspected every medium black suitcase, looking for one with orange yarn wrapped around the handles, Link resolved to purchase a new one when he got home. Something in a bright, obnoxious color, or a pattern like plaid or polka dots. Something, <em>anything</em>, to make it stand out. There was a huge neon green suitcase that kept catching his eye. <em>That’s what I need</em>, he thought.</p><p>Finally he found it, buried three deep towards the back of the room. He hauled it out, knocking over the other bags in the process. Link scowled at them, but put them upright before leaving with his bag rolling behind him. He wandered around with it for a while until he found the masked figure in charge of laundry, who gave him a mesh bag to put his dirty clothes in. Link stuffed it in the front pocket of his suitcase and returned to his room.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rhett was still in bed, although now he was fully dressed on top of the covers and propped into a sitting position (using all four pillows, Link noticed), typing away on a laptop in his lap. “Are you gonna stay in bed all day?” Link asked as he rolled the suitcase next to his side of the bed. “There’s Italian food and the luggage is here.”</p><p>“I know,” Rhett said, not looking up. “I’m waiting until it’s time for my physical so I only have to make one trip.”</p><p>Link frowned. “What physical?” he asked.</p><p>Rhett paused and looked up at that. “Like when we got off the plane? They sent out emails with your assigned time. You better make sure you haven’t missed it.”</p><p>“Uhh…” Link grabbed his now fully charged phone off the bedside table and pulled up his email. There was one about scheduling that he’d only skimmed before. “It’s at 8:15pm, so I’m good. Kinda late, though, don’t you think?”</p><p>Rhett shrugged, a small movement in only one shoulder. “There’s almost four hundred people here. That’s a lot of physicals, and it’s not like we have to go during office hours.”</p><p>“Wow.” Link took a second to absorb that. Boeing 747s were <em>huge</em>. “What time is yours?”</p><p>“9:20.” Rhett returned to his laptop.</p><p>Link stared at him. He’d been starving and Rhett was much bigger than he was. It was only a little past 5pm. “Aren’t you hungry?”</p><p>Rhett looked up at him again, looking mildly annoyed. “Yes, I’m hungry, but I threw my back out. I'm trying to move as little as possible, which is why I’m waiting so I only need to make one trip.”</p><p>“Oh.” Link sat on the floor and considered this as he unpacked his suitcase. He didn’t know Rhett, but he seemed okay, if a little distant. He apparently hadn’t been bothered by having Link’s head on his shoulder. Link zipped his dirty laundry into the mesh bag and made a decision. “I’m going back downstairs.”</p><p>“‘Kay.” Once again, Rhett was totally uninterested. </p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</p><p>Back on the ground floor, Link dropped his laundry bag off and went back to The Maine Event. The buffet was winding down but there was still some vegetable lasagna and salad left. Link dished up healthy portions of each, grabbed a knife and fork, and absconded from the restaurant with the full plate. No one stopped him. No one even gave him a second glance as he took it back up to his room. Everything about the whole situation was so strange enough that no one cared about a guy with a full meal on the elevator.</p><p>Link managed to not drop the plate as he fumbled with his key card. Rhett didn’t look up until Link walked around the bed and held out the plate. “Here.”</p><p>Rhett looked up from his computer. “You brought me lunch?” He closed the laptop and took the plate.</p><p>“Well, yeah.” Link took the utensils out of his pocket and handed them over. “That’s a long time to go without food.”</p><p>“That was really nice of you,” Rhett mumbled through a mouthful of salad.</p><p>Link pulled the chair out from the little desk and sat in it, facing Rhett. “Well, you did let me sleep in the bed.” Saying that reminded him of something. “Shit, I was going to ask if we could move rooms or get a cot or something.”</p><p>“Not gonna happen,” Rhett said. “This place is completely full. They can put you on a waitlist, but that’s about it.”</p><p>“Okay, how do you know that if you’ve been in bed all day, and what good is a waitlist going to do if the hotel’s at capacity?” Link was a little miffed at this bedbound person knowing more than him.</p><p>“You really need to join that Evergreen Ridge Virus Hell Facebook group,” Rhett replied. “Lots of good information there. Some funny memes, too.”</p><p>Link gave him a bewildered look. He had a Facebook account, but almost never used it. “And the waitlist?”</p><p>“Mmm!” Rhett gestured with his fork and swallowed. “It’s not gonna be at capacity forever. At least three people have already been taken to the hospital.”</p><p>Link’s stomach dropped. “Sick?” he asked, already knowing the answer.</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Shit,” Link whispered.</p><p>“Yeah.” Rhett speared another forkful of salad. “No one really knows how bad it is, either, because it’s so new.”</p><p>Link didn’t say anything. Instead, he looked down at his shoes. Plain gray sneakers, tied loose enough to slip on and off. Another technique for getting through security faster, and another reminder that he should have been home by now. The gravity of his situation was beginning to sink in.</p><p>They sat in silence as Rhett finished his meal. “Thanks again,” he said.</p><p>“No problem.” Link took the plate and took it back downstairs to return it to The Maine Event. As he left, Rhett opened his laptop and got back to work.</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</p><p>Link had some time to kill before his medical appointment, so he wandered around the ground floor of the lodge. It was a pretty fancy place, and he wanted to see what amenities it had to offer.</p><p>The first thing he found was a lounge with a huge fireplace. A few women were seated on the couches in front of it, playing cards. Further away from the fire, a pool table and a ping pong table were in use by some middle aged men and teenagers--dads and kids, Link assumed. It was a pretty nice space. He spent a little time talking to the guys playing pool and learned that the lodge had been full of vacationers, but the CDC and the National Guard had them evacuated (Link mentally substituted “evicted”) to make room for the passengers.</p><p>“That’s uh, that’s pretty drastic,” Link said. “Man, I bet they were <em>pissed</em>.”</p><p>The slightly chubbier of the two guys shrugged. Link had shamefully already forgotten his name. “Well, I’m not real thrilled about it either, you know? This is a nice place but it’s not like we can really enjoy it.”</p><p>Link thought about his sleeping arrangement. “Yeah.”</p><p>“I mean, we have to share a bed!” the slightly less chubby guy said. His name was Brett, which Link remembered because he heard <em>Rhett</em> at first. “It sucks because he snores--” there was an exclamation of denial from the chubbier guy “--but at least we’re brothers but it’s not <em>too</em> weird. There are a bunch of people who are having to share with strangers.”</p><p>Link found that he didn’t want to admit to sharing a bed with another man. “My roommate is a stranger. I slept on the floor.”</p><p>“That sucks, man,” Not-Brett said. He lined up a shot and perfectly knocked a ball into the pocket. “You wanna play a round?”</p><p>Link shook his head. “I have to do my physical soon. Maybe later.”</p><p>“Well, you’re welcome any time,” Brett said. Link thanked them and went on his way.</p><p>There was an exercise room with stationary bikes, treadmills, and ellipticals facing a giant picture window that looked out onto the ski slope. Link’s jaw dropped. “Wow,” he whispered. It was a stunningly amazing view. The Maine Event also faced the slope, but he hadn’t been near the windows there, and the window of his room faced the parking lot.</p><p>Almost all of the machines were in use, but Link knew he’d be back. Two weeks cooped up indoors with no physical activity would drive him over the edge.</p><p>The final thing he found before it was time for his appointment was an indoor pool, complete with hot tub and sauna. There were quite a few people enjoying those, as well.</p><p>If he had to spend two weeks trapped in a hotel, Link though, at least it was a nice one.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Link’s second physical also took place in a tent, although it was a much larger, much nicer tent than the one on the airport tarmac. In fact, he wasn’t sure if “tent” was even the right word for it. The walls were still fabric, but it was stretched over a metal frame that was more like a shed than anything else. A chain link corridor attached it to the ski lodge with a couple masked National Guardsmen monitoring it.</p><p>They scanned his hospital bracelet as he left the hotel and again as he entered the tent. The exam was much quicker this time, no medical history, just taking his vitals. Instead of drawing blood, the masked figure examining Link used a lancet to prick his finger and smeared the blood on a little card of some type. It made him dizzy so he missed the explanation of what the card was, but he assumed it was some sort of test.</p><p>Link had his bracelet scanned twice on his way back into the hotel. He felt kind of bad for the masked figures standing guard--it was very cold and windy. Link hoped they were warmly dressed under their hazmat suits. </p><p>He wandered back to The Maine Event, where a new buffet was laid out, Tex Mex build your own tacos this time. Link fixed himself a plate and went and sat in the lobby. The restaurant was too crowded and noisy for him.</p><p>As he ate, he pulled up the Facebook app on his phone. He hadn’t been on in weeks, and there were a bunch of comments and questions from friends, family, and coworkers, all about his current situation. Link spent a while typing up a status informing everyone that he was fine, he didn’t feel sick and would get checked every day, the ski lodge was nice, and currently his biggest issue was boredom. He took a selfie with the lodge’s faux Alpine decor behind him, and posted it with his status. <em>That should satisfy them for a while</em>, he thought.</p><p>The Evergreen Ridge Virus Hell group required approval to join, so Link entered his room number (304) and what movie was shown on the plane (<em>National Treasure</em>). He didn’t have long to wait. An admin must have seen his request and approved it right away.</p><p>The banner image was a picture of Evergreen Ridge from its website, photoshopped to make the sign say <em>Evergreen Ridge Virus Hell</em> instead of <em>Evergreen Ridge Alpine Lodge</em>. Flames and smoke poured from the windows, while a grinning Satan danced in front of the entrance, holding a cotton swab instead of a pitchfork. It was very well done.</p><p>There was a pinned announcement from one of the admins (some guy named Robert Rogers Jr) listing a lot of names, numbers, and contact information for the National Guard, CDC, and hotel staff for people to contact if they needed anything. Link scrolled through, impressed at how comprehensive it was.</p><p>There were posts of people looking for things (childrens’ books, pajama pants for a petite woman), post of people with things to give (an extra hoodie, a stack of fashion magazines), posts of people complaining about the food, posts from people looking for a new roommates… that one caught Link’s eye. He expanded the comments and read through them. It took less than a minute to conclude that he’d lucked out with Rhett, who was quiet, polite, and didn’t snore.</p><p>And speaking of Rhett…  Link saw him sitting in The Maine Event with a plate piled high with food, eating rapidly. Link put his empty plate in the dish return (the whole food setup reminded him very strongly of the dining hall in his dorm when he was in college) and went over. Rhett was sitting at a table for six, along with three other people, all of whom were ignoring each other. Link sat across from Rhett, who nodded in acknowledgement.</p><p>“Hey,” Link said. “How’s your back?”</p><p>“Still hurts.” Rhett took another bite. Link waited as he chewed and swallowed. “I’m gonna ask the doctor for something.”</p><p>“Probably a good idea,” Link agreed. “What about your suitcase?”</p><p>“What do you mean, what about my suitcase?” Rhett asked. He had somehow managed to clean his plate while talking to Link, who had never seen anyone eat so fast in his life. It reminded him of the stray dog his cousin adopted, who had to be fed on a special plate to slow her down, because otherwise she’d gobble her food up so fast she’d vomit.</p><p>“I mean, are you going to be able to get it? If it’s anything like your backpack, it’s not very light,” Link replied. “You want me to get it and take it up to the room?” Rhett might be upright and mobile, but Link could tell he was still in a lot of pain.</p><p>Rhett gave him a long, measured look. Link suspected he wasn’t the kind of person to normally ask for help. In fact, Link was pretty sure that in normal circumstances, Rhett would turn down his offer, but these weren’t normal circumstances.</p><p>“Yeah, that would be helpful, I guess,” Rhett said finally. The other people at the table continued to ignore them. “You won’t have any trouble finding it, either. It’s safety green.”</p><p>Link snorted. “That’s yours? It looks like a highlighter.”</p><p>“Highlighters exist for a reason, man,” Rhett replied. There was a ghost of a smile on his face, which vanished as he looked at his smartwatch. “Time to get poked and prodded,” he sighed.</p><p>“They didn’t do the swabs this time,” Link said. “And they pricked my finger instead of drawing blood.”</p><p>“That’s a relief, I guess.” Rhett pushed his chair back and very gingerly got up. “Hopefully they’ll be able to give me something for my back, too.” He waved at Link as he walked off with his plate.</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</p><p>Link went to fetch Rhett’s suitcase. Even if it hadn’t been neon green, it would have been easy to find as almost all the other suitcases had been collected. Link wondered if some of the lingering bags belonged to people who had been taken to the hospital.</p><p>He checked the tag even though there was only one green bag and was surprised to learn that Rhett lived fairly close to him in LA. It was strange to think of any of the other passengers as people with real lives outside of quarantine. Link imagined Yvette walking her kids to school past the Arc de Triomphe, which was dumb because she told him she was from Chartres (“With the cathedral,” she said. Link nodded, pretending he knew about the cathedral at Chartres when in reality he had no clue.).</p><p>Rhett’s suitcase was <em>extremely</em> heavy. “Did he pack a load of bricks?” Link muttered to himself as he hauled it off to the elevator. The weight was distributed unevenly, too, causing it to fall over when he let go of the handle. Link yelped as it landed on his foot. </p><p>There were six women in the hallway on the third floor, playing a makeshift game of cornhole. The boards were made of cardboard boxes and the bean bags were balled up socks. It looked like fun, and Link wasn’t doing anything else, so he called out, “Hey, can I play?”</p><p>One of the players, a petite woman with a cloud of curls, turned around. “Sure, you can get in on the next game.” Link gave her a thumbs up and went to put Rhett’s suitcase next to the bed.</p><p>The cornhole players were all very nice and funny. Link forgot their names immediately, but he had a great time chatting with them. The conversations mostly revolved around living in a hotel and how much it sucked. There were a lot of complaints about sleeping arrangements. Link wasn’t the only one sharing a bed with a stranger.</p><p>“I mean, she’s super nice,” the woman with the curly hair said. Link thought her name might be Jessica. Or Jennifer? Something like that. “But she doesn’t speak very much English, and I don’t know <em>any</em> French. It’s just awkward, you know?”</p><p>“I think it’s easier for women, though.” The speaker was another woman, maybe in her thirties. Link didn’t even have a guess for her name. “Men are afraid of catching the gay or some stupid shit like that.” She glanced over at Link, who raised his eyebrows at her. “Sorry.”</p><p>“I, uh,” Link started giggling. “I can’t catch the gay.” He laughed harder. “I already have it.” The women started giggling, too. Soon they were all laughing so hard they could barely breathe. Link didn’t know why it was so funny, but as soon as they began to catch their breath, someone would start laughing again and sat the rest of them off.</p><p>“Looks like you’re having fun,” came a voice from behind Link. <em>Rhett</em>. Link’s eyes widened in alarm. How long had Rhett been standing there? How much had he heard? People in LA were generally tolerant of homosexuality (which was a major reason that Link had jumped at the chance to move for his job), but there were always those who were the exception. He had no idea what sort of person Rhett was.</p><p>A motherly older woman, Rita or Rhonda maybe, saw Link’s panicked expression and gave him the tiniest nod. She must have realized what he was thinking. Link relaxed minutely. Rhett must not look upset. He schooled his face into neutrality and turned around.</p><p>“Uh, yeah,” Link said carefully. “Physics are different though, playing with socks.” That was certainly true.</p><p>Rhett gave him a little smile. His brow was still furrowed in pain and he held a white pill bottle and a mesh laundry bag. “That’s cool. I’m glad someone’s having a nice time around here. I’m gonna go lie down.”</p><p>“Yeah, okay. I, um, hope you feel better?” Link was aware of how lame he sounded. As Rhett walked away, he turned back to the women and grimaced. “How long was he…?”</p><p>The women looked at each other and shrugged. No one had noticed Rhett walk up because they’d been too busy laughing. “That’s your roommate?” one of them asked.</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Are you okay? Like, do you feel safe?”</p><p>Link considered that for a moment. “Well, he seems okay, and he’s thrown his back out, so I could probably take him if I had to.”</p><p>Roxy or Reba--Reba! That was it. Link felt very proud that he’d remembered a name. Reba snorted and said, “If you need to get away, just come to my room, okay honey? I’m all the way at the end on the left.”</p><p>Link was genuinely touched. “Thank you so much, but shouldn’t you ask your room…” he trailed off as Reba shook her head.</p><p>“I’m by myself. My husband had a fever this morning, so they sent him to the hospital, just in case.”</p><p>“Oh my god.” Link’s stomach dropped. He looked around. The other women had started a new game of cornhole (sockhole?). “I’m so sorry. You must be terrified.”</p><p>“Yeah.” Reba took a shuddery breath. “They said it’s almost certainly not the virus, because that’s too fast for it to spread, but they wouldn’t let me go with him--” she burst into tears. Link opened his arms to let Reba come in for a hug.</p><p>They ended up spending a few hours in her room, just talking. Reba told Link all about her husband. His name was Michael and he was a personal injury attorney. They met a few years ago on Instagram when they made the same comment at the same time on a post from their favorite podcast and got married two weeks ago. They’d been in Paris for their honeymoon.</p><p>Link had only had one relationship that he could have seen progressing to marriage, but the fact that his boyfriend refused to move to LA when Link got his dream job showed that he was mistaken. That was six years ago, and he’d gone out with a few different guys in LA, but none of them turned into anything long term.</p><p>“I just feel like, if they’re the right person, you’ll <em>know</em>,” Link said. He was still a romantic at heart.</p><p>Reba nodded. “That’s how it was with Michael, the first time we had a video call. He just had the loveliest smile and…” she sighed and put a hand over her heart. “I just knew.”</p><p>“That’s so sweet.” Link lay back on the bed. “I hope I find somebody like that one day.”</p><p>“You’ll find him one day, honey.” Reba patted his knee. “Maybe he’s here in this lodge.”</p><p>Link burst out laughing. “That would be a hell of a way to meet somebody.”</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was past 1am when Link left Reba’s room. He’d ended up telling her about how weird he felt about sharing a bed with Rhett the previous night, and she offered to let him stay in her room, but he declined. “I don’t really want to share a bed with <em>anybody</em>,” Link said, “and if I’m going to sleep on the floor, it might as well be in the room with all my stuff.” The truth was, if he had to choose between sharing a bed with Reba or Rhett, he’d pick Rhett every time. Reba was his mom’s age. It would be <em>beyond</em> weird.</p><p>He did, however, accept one of Reba’s pillows and the comforter from her bed (“Honey, I’m 63. I haven’t been cold at night in over five years.”), as well as the offer to come back if he didn’t feel safe with Rhett.</p><p>Link went back to his own room with his arms full of cushy bedding and jabbed at the lock blindly with the key card. He tried his best to be quiet, but when he walked in, Rhett was still awake, propped on a stack of pillows with his laptop on his lap, as usual. This time, though, he had a bunch of books and what looked like scholarly journals spread across Link’s side of the bed. </p><p>Rhett looked up. “Oh, sorry.” He started gathering up his things. “Let me just…”</p><p>“No, it’s okay. I’m gonna...” Link trailed off and hefted his pile of bedding. “I thought you’d be asleep.”</p><p>Rhett shook his head. “My sleep schedule’s completely fucked.” He looked at the comforter in Link’s arms. “Are you sleeping on the floor?”</p><p>“Yeah.” Link didn’t really <em>want</em> to sleep on the floor. He honestly didn’t know what it was about sharing a bed with Rhett that made him so uncomfortable. After all, Link thought, it wouldn’t be the first time he slept with someone he didn’t know. Of course, all those times he and the other guy had agreed to it beforehand. And, you know, there was sex involved.</p><p>Rhett gave him another one of those long, considering looks. “Is that because you’re uncomfortable sharing a bed with me, or because you’re worried that I’ll be uncomfortable sharing a bed with <em>you</em>?”</p><p>“Um.” Rhett was startlingly perceptive for someone who seemed like he didn’t pay any attention at all to Link, who decided to just get it over with. He hugged the folded comforter to his chest and took a deep breath. “I’m gay.”</p><p>Apparently Rhett hadn’t heard him in the hallway earlier, because he gave Link a genuinely bewildered look. “So?”</p><p>Link stared back, torn between relief and annoyance. “So, a lot of people have really strong feelings about that! How am I supposed to know what kind of person you are?”</p><p>“I hope I’m not the kind of person you need to be scared of,” Rhett said softly. “If I said or did anything to make you think that, I am truly sorry.”</p><p>Link dropped the comforter and pillow on the floor and sat on the foot of the bed, his back to Rhett. “No, you didn’t. It’s just…” he dropped his head into his hands and sighed. “I don’t know. I just don’t know.”</p><p>“If it makes you feel any better, I once had to share a sleeping bag with a stranger, so a bed is nothing.”</p><p>Link turned around, incredulous. Rhett gave him a goofy little grin. “You have <em>got</em> to tell me how that happened,” he said.</p><p>Rhett laughed and closed his laptop. “This was twelve or thirteen years ago, when I was writing for <em>Outside</em> magazine. I was doing a profile on this group of ice climbers, so I was going to Greenland with them for two weeks while they tried to climb this glacier that had never been climbed before. My girlfriend at the time was a photographer for <em>Outside</em> and we usually worked together on stuff like that, but her dad had a heart attack the day before we left. He ended up being okay, but she stayed home, so <em>Outside</em> sent a new photographer to meet us in Qaqortoq.”</p><p>Link blinked. “I’m sorry, where?”</p><p>“Qaqortoq. It’s a city in Greenland. Well, it would be a town anywhere else, but in Greenland, it’s a city. Anyway. So we meet this guy at the airport in Qaqortoq. His name is Johann Nilsson, Swedish guy, and I have about five minutes to get to know him before we get on this helicopter and go to this tiny village not too far from the glacier. No hotels there, of course, so we split up and crashed with various townspeople. I stayed with this older lady, Kunelik, and she fed me raw beluga.”</p><p>“Raw <em>whale</em>?” Link gave him a distressed look. “Is that even legal?”</p><p>Rhett laughed at his expression. “For indigenous people, yeah. It wasn’t half bad, either. Anyway, Johann stayed with someone else, and in the morning, we got on the dog sleds--we hired some local guys as guides--and I didn’t get to talk to him then, either. In fact, I didn’t get to talk to him until that night, when we set up the tent. He was staying with me because he took my girlfriend’s place. I had this extra large two person sleeping bag, because, you know, girlfriend, and long story short it was so cold that night that he got in it with me. And that’s why I ended up sharing a sleeping bag with a stranger.”</p><p>“Wow,” Link said. That was a lot to take in, but there was one question he had to ask before anything else. “What does whale meat taste like?”</p><p>“It wasn’t meat, it was little slices of skin and blubber. Like about this thick.” Rhett held his fingers about a half inch apart. “There wasn’t too much flavor, just kinda salty, but the texture was sort of oily and gristly and chewy.”</p><p>“Oh, gosh.” Link made a disgusted face. At some point, he’d pulled his legs up onto the bed so he could turn and fully face Rhett. “I don’t think I could deal with that.”</p><p>“I’ll eat just about anything that isn’t liver,” Rhett said with a shrug. “So are you gonna sleep in the bed or are you gonna sleep on the floor?”</p><p>Link had been thinking about how he’d handle being served raw blubber (probably poorly) and the abrupt change in subject matter threw him off. “Uh. The bed? I guess.”</p><p>“Okay.” Rhett twisted to pick up his stack of books and journals and hissed a little in pain. “All yours,” he said when Link’s side of the bed was clear. “Do you mind if I leave my bedside light on? You can turn off the overhead light.”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s fine.” Link got up and flipped the switch, plunging the room into darkness for a split second before Rhett turned on his bedside light. He picked the extra pillow up off the floor. “You can keep all the pillows for your back, I got another one.”</p><p>“Thanks, man.” Rhett opened his laptop back up and returned to wherever it was he went while he was writing. Link looked at him for a moment before gingerly climbing under the covers fully dressed, and then even more gingerly wiggling out of his sweatpants, keeping his eye on Rhett in the corner of his vision the entire time.</p><p>But Rhett ignored him, so Link scooted as close to the edge of the bed as he could without feeling like he was going to fall off and closed his eyes. There was something surprisingly soothing about the gentle clatter of Rhett’s laptop keyboard, and Link fell asleep much easier than he thought he would.</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</p><p>Link’s phone alarm went off at 5am, as it did every weekday. He’d downloaded a harsh BEEP BEEP BEEP tone ages ago, which he hated, but it did wake him up. Link flung his left arm out to grab the phone and snooze it, and as he did he realized two things: First, the alarm, which usually came from the right hand bedside table, was coming from behind him--the <em>left</em> hand bedside table. And second, his left arm was already stretched out and draped across another person’s chest.</p><p>By the time it sank in to Link that he’d been sleeping tucked up next to Rhett with his left arm across Rhett’s chest (!), his bare left leg tangled between Rhett’s bare legs (!!), and Rhett’s left arm under his neck and around his back (!!!), he was already on the far side of the mattress with his phone in hand. Link dismissed the alarm and gently set the phone back on the bedside table before trying to catch his breath and slow his galloping heart.</p><p>There was no way Rhett had slept through that, but there was also no way Link was going to acknowledge it. He lay still on his side of the bed (which was cold--he must have been snuggled up to Rhett for a while), back to Rhett, mind racing. What was <em>happening</em>? Was he subconsciously drawn to Rhett? Would it happen if he shared a bed with someone else, like Reba? His past bed sharings were of no help--they’d all been with people he’d already had intimate relations with.</p><p>And what did Rhett think of this? He hadn’t minded Link’s face against his arm, but that was nothing compared to having Link draped <em>all over</em> him while neither one had pants on. That had to be crossing a line of some sort. But on the other hand, Rhett had shared a sleeping bag with a stranger, which had to have been… cozy. Link was beginning to realize that Rhett didn’t have as many hangups about physical contact with strangers as he did.</p><p>Link also realized that while he was silently freaking out, Rhett was silently… Link didn’t know what Rhett was doing. He wasn’t asleep, Link could tell from his breathing. Was he disgusted? Was he planning a post on Evergreen Ridge Virus Hell to look for a new roommate? Or did he honestly not care? All Link had to do to find out was ask, but he absolutely could not make himself form the words. He couldn’t even turn over to look at Rhett.</p><p>In the end, Link didn’t do anything, and eventually he fell back asleep, hoping and praying that he’d stay on his own side of the bed.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Link finally woke up, he was alone in the bed, still on his side. He breathed a sigh of relief and looked around. The bathroom door was closed, and he could hear the shower running. If he got dressed and left right away, Link could avoid Rhett, at least for a while.</p><p>But Link needed to brush his teeth, and he wanted to take a shower, too. He also needed to collect his clean clothes (one of the seemingly hundreds of emails he received from The Authorities, as they were called on Evergreen Ridge Virus Hell, had informed him that his laundry was ready). Rhett’s technique of making one trip seemed pretty appealing, so Link pulled on his pants in case it got weird and he needed to flee and waited for Rhett to exit the bathroom. In the meantime, he grabbed his phone to see what had happened while he was asleep.</p><p>The first thing he checked was Evergreen Ridge Virus Hell. The top post was from Reba McKelley Thompson. Her icon showed her in a simple white dress, beaming next to an equally happy man in a sport coat. </p><p>
  <em>Hey everyone, just wanted to let everyone know some good news and some not so good news. My husband Michael, who was taken to the hospital immediately after his first physical due to having a fever, does NOT have the virus. Turns out his fever was caused by appendicitis. He has had surgery and will be in the hospital for another couple days, then they will send him back here to recover and wait out the rest of his quarantine. I want to thank everyone so much for your support. It means the world to me. God bless.</em>
</p><p>Link grinned and hit the like button. Reba had been so kind to him, and Link was thrilled that her husband was going to be okay.</p><p>There were posts about setting up a school/daycare for younger kids, posts about a billiards tournament, posts about exercise classes… Link was amazed at how much people had accomplished in less than two days. All he’d managed to do was get someone else to do his laundry and make things really weird with his roommate.</p><p>There were a number of stories about the quarantine at Evergreen Ridge from news outlets on the outside. They didn’t really contain anything Link didn’t know, but there were some linked Twitter threads from his fellow inmates that were pretty interesting.</p><p>Link was lost in a very funny thread by a teenage girl about sharing a bed with her grandmother when the bathroom door opened. He looked up in mild apprehension as Rhett emerged with a blast of warm, humid air. Rhett’s damp hair hung in disheveled honey colored curls and he wore only boxers and a snug t-shirt. He moved stiffly, but seemed like he wasn’t in too much pain.</p><p>This was the first time Link had really seen him, and it was a bit of a shock. The first night, they’d both been exhausted, and Link barely remembered it. After that, Rhett had spent most of his time lying in bed, apart from the few moments Link had found him at dinner.</p><p>It turned out that Rhett was <em>really</em> nice to look at. Link was tall, but Rhett was taller, like duck under the doorway tall, and he had the physique to match. Broad shoulder, long legs, toned and soft at the same time, somehow. That, combined with his neatly trimmed beard and pushed back curls gave him a sort of “sensitive lumberjack” look that Link thought he could get into pretty easily.</p><p>“Oh, Sleeping Beauty’s awake,” Rhett said as he sat down on his side of the bed. “Mornin’.”</p><p>“<em>What</em>?” That was the last thing Link had expected. “Sleeping <em>Beauty</em>?”</p><p>“It’s almost 11am,” Rhett said, as if that explained it. “I’ve already been up for six hours.”</p><p>Six hours… that meant he woke up at 5am, which was when Link’s alarm went off. The only thing Link could think of to say was, “Ah.”</p><p>“Yeah, I got some breakfast, dropped my laundry off, picked up your laundry--” Rhett pointed towards Link’s suitcase before continuing, “--came back and worked on my dissertation for a while. Pretty productive.”</p><p>“You got my laundry?” Link asked, as if he couldn’t see the mesh bag that was right in front of him. “Thanks, man.”</p><p>“No problem. You brought me lunch yesterday, so I figured I owed you one.” Rhett had been getting dressed in the same jeans and hoodie he’d been wearing on the plane as he spoke. “Can’t wait for my laundry to be done.”</p><p>“I bet,” Link said. “Does, um, does your back feel better?”</p><p>Rhett nodded. “Yeah, they gave me some steroids for the inflammation. Still hurts like hell, but at least I can move.”</p><p>“Well, that’s good.” Link got out of bed and dumped his clean clothes out into his empty suitcase. He sorted through them and pulled out jeans, boxer briefs, and a t-shirt. “Guess I’ll start my day.”</p><p>“If you need me, you know where to find me,” Rhett said. He was already propped up on his pillow pile, laptop open.</p><p>“Uh, yeah.” Link grabbed his clothes and fled to the relative privacy of the bathroom, hoping the shower would wash away how awkward he felt.</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~</p><p>Link still felt kind of awkward, but a shower, shave, and fresh clothes made him feel a lot better otherwise. Rhett looked up as he exited the bathroom, but that was all. There were already three books open on the bed.</p><p>“I gotta fix my sleep schedule,” Link muttered as he got in line for the buffet at the Maine Event. He was still in breakfast mode, but they were serving hamburgers and hot dogs like it was a cookout (in California, they’d call it a BBQ, but Link was from North Carolina and knew what <em>real</em> barbecue was). He got a sausage of some sort and a pile of cheesy potatoes. It was as close to breakfast food as he was going to get.</p><p>Someone waved at him from the side of the room. Link went over. It was Yvette. Charlie and Manon were each eating a hamburger with a huge amount of ketchup. Link sat down. “Aren’t you guys supposed to be in class?” he asked. “I saw on Facebook that there’s a school now.”</p><p>“It’s lunchtime,” Charlie informed him, and took another huge bite. Yvette chided him in French, probably telling him to take smaller bites. It was amazing how moms said the same thing in every language, Link thought.</p><p>“It is a kind of school, anyway,” Yvette said. “More something to keep them busy.”</p><p>“Better than nothing,” Link said. “Not much for kids to do here.” He took a probably too large bite of his sausage, but unlike Charlie, he actually chewed before swallowing.</p><p>Yvette and Link talked for a while, and then Link played a tablet guessing game with Charlie and Manon. They each in turn held the tablet against their forehead so they couldn’t see it while it displayed something like an animal or food. The other two gave clues until the tablet holder guessed correctly. The rules were simple, but the language barrier made it much harder. By the time it was time for them to go back to ‘school’, all four of them were laughing so hard they could barely breathe. Link even forgot about the situation they were in for a little while.</p><p>He wandered around for a while after that, looking for a somewhat private place to call his boss and his mom. Eventually he ended up sitting on the steps in an empty stairwell. Both calls were going to suck, but it would be easier to get his boss off the phone, so Link called him first.</p><p>His boss was still upset, but there was nothing either one of them could do. Eventually, they made a plan where his boss would send a bunch of 3D models of the helicopter engine to Link, who would work on figuring out how to fit in the fuel cell from the hotel. Link didn’t know how productive he’d be, but something to occupy him would be nice. There wasn’t a lot for adults to do at Evergreen Ridge, either.</p><p>The call to his mom ended up taking over an hour, mostly taken up by Link repeatedly trying to reassure her that he felt fine, everyone was under close watch for symptoms, and there was top notch medical care available. She was not reassured, which was unsurprising. Link got his anxiety from her, although he didn’t know if it was by nature or nurture.</p><p>Link was thoroughly exhausted by the time he finished his calls. He’d only been awake for three and a half hours, and all he wanted was a nap. Unfortunately, his bed wasn’t entirely his. If Rhett wasn’t injured, Link would have no problem asking him to leave, but that wasn’t going to happen. Link considered it for a while, and came to the conclusion that his best bet would be to nap on the comforter on the floor.</p><p>He stopped at the housekeeping station to see if Rhett’s laundry was done (it was) and then took another trip to the buffet, getting three cheeseburgers.  If Rhett didn’t like it, he was welcome to go downstairs himself.</p><p>Rhett was in exactly the same position he’d been in when Link left. The only difference was that there were more books and journals surrounding him. He looked up as Link entered. “Hey,” he said.</p><p>“Hey,” Link replied. “I brought you some stuff.” He dropped the laundry bag on the floor and held out the plate. Rhett took it with an odd expression on his face.</p><p>“Thanks. Um, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, because this is all very nice of you, but I was going to get my laundry when I went down for lunch,” he said.</p><p>“It’s almost three. They were shutting down the buffet, and I knew you hadn’t been down because your laundry was still there,” Link replied.</p><p>“It is?” Rhett eyebrows jumped up. He hit a key on his laptop. “Huh, would you look at that. I guess I owe you another one. Maybe two.”</p><p>Link shook his head. “You don’t owe me. I just feel like… everybody who’s trapped in here has to do as much to help each other as they can, you know?”</p><p>“Yeah.” Rhett looked down at his keyboard. “I’m sorry you got stuck with me. I know you’d probably rather have a roommate who isn’t an invalid.”</p><p>“<em>Stuck</em> with you?” Link climbed on to the end of the bed and sat there with his legs crossed. “I mean, yeah, we ended up in here together pretty much by random, but last night this woman Reba, she’s at the end of the hall, offered to let me stay with her and I decided to come back here instead.”</p><p>“Oh.” Rhett looked surprised and pleased. Link thought it was very cute. “Did she want… I mean… um, did she know that you’re gay?”</p><p>Link burst into laughter, and Rhett joined him. “Ew, dude, even if I wasn’t she’s like my mom’s age. But yeah, she knew. That’s why she offered to let me stay there.”</p><p>“What?” Rhett wasn’t following.</p><p>“In the hall, I thought you heard me say I was gay, and I didn’t know how you’d react,” Link explained.</p><p>“Oh. I’m sorry,” Rhett said. Link shrugged. It wasn’t the first time he’d been in a situation like that. It was, however, the first time sharing a bed had been involved.</p><p>Link gestured to the literature all over the bed. “What are you working on?”</p><p>“My dissertation,” Rhett said. “Gettin’ a PhD in anthropology. I fucked up my back about nine years ago and I couldn’t travel like I used to, so I went back to school.”</p><p>“Oh, wow.” Link was seriously impressed. “What’s it about?”</p><p>“Iron Age pagan customs in Germany. There’s a place outside Munich where they dug up a bog body that’s about 2500 years old, so I went to go talk to the researchers and study it.”</p><p>This was also impressive, but… “What’s a bog body?”</p><p>“A kind of mummy,” Rhett said. “If someone is buried in a peat marsh, it can preserve their body. This guy was in his thirties and probably pretty high status, and he has a bunch of injuries that make it likely he was sacrificed. So the question I’m working on is, who was he? And why was he killed?”</p><p>Link had no idea that bog mummies were a thing. “That’s pretty cool. Are you going to work on it the whole time we’re here?”</p><p>Rhett shook his head. “Once my back feels better, I’m going to try and get out more.”</p><p>“I wish I could help somehow,” Link said. “That has to suck.”</p><p>“Well, unless you’re a physical therapist, a chiropractor, or a masseuse…” Rhett trailed off.</p><p>Link laughed. “I took some massage classes a few years ago, but really I’m an electrical engineer.” Rhett looked at him with raised eyebrows. “Uh…”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Link was very, very glad Rhett couldn’t see him, because his face was so red he thought he might actually burst into flames. Rhett was lying face down on a comforter on the floor (“No, you have to get off the bed, ‘cause otherwise I’d just be squishing you into the mattress. You know, like how you’re not supposed to give someone CPR on a mattress?”), shirt off, and Link was about to straddle him. His ass against Rhett’s ass. His hands on Rhett’s skin. It was a lot to take in.</p><p>Link took a steadying breath and knelt down, inwardly praying that he wouldn’t get an erection, but that was probably impossible between the intimacy of their position and Rhett’s attractiveness. If he did, Link thought, he really would have to find a new roommate.</p><p>Rhett was <em>big</em>. It was like he was built to a slightly larger scale than most other people. Link had to spread his legs wider than he expected, and all the wiggling into place and adjusting Link had to do to get comfortable really didn’t help his goal of not getting an erection. At least he was wearing jeans and only half hard, at least for now. By the time he reached Rhett’s lower back, Link realized, he’d almost certainly be fully rock hard. He swallowed and took a deep breath.</p><p>“You okay back there?” Rhett mumbled. His head was turned to the side and his eyes were closed, hair falling every which way.</p><p>Link carefully schooled his voice so it wouldn’t shake. “Yeah.” He squirted hotel supplied lotion into his palm. It had a vaguely fresh scent to it that made Link think of fabric softener. He rubbed it between his hands to warm it and smoothed it across Rhett’s broad shoulders. His skin was smooth and sprinkled with freckles. Link guessed Rhett was the kind of person who got very bad sunburns very easily. That led to a vision of Rhett at the beach, shirtless with all his freckles on display, wearing nothing but wet swim trunks.</p><p><em>Stop that</em>, Link thought. <em>Don’t be a creep. He just wants help for his back, not a happy ending.</em></p><p>Neither of them spoke as Link started at Rhett’s neck and worked down past his shoulders. Link focused on telling himself this was just for medical purposes. He was starting to feel a little detached and professional (and his erection was starting to go away) when he dug his thumb into a particularly tight spot. Rhett moaned, actually moaned, and Link’s erection came back instantly. The sound raised goosebumps all over his body, and he had to press his lips together to avoid a whimper of his own. If Rhett made that sound again, Link thought he just might ask him if he wanted a happy ending.</p><p>Rhett was either completely unaware of Link’s predicament (predickament?) or ignoring it for some reason. “Why’d you take massage classes, if you’re an engineer?” he asked.</p><p>“Um.” Link was having trouble focusing. He considered how to answer. “The last guy I dated was in a car accident and got whiplash, so he’d get these muscle spasms and I wanted to help him.” That was true, even though the classes hadn’t been Link’s idea.</p><p>“Mm.” Rhett thought for a few moments. “And you’re not together anymore?”</p><p>“No.” It was also true that Link’s ex had begun using his injuries as a means of control. The massage classes had been only one of the many hoops Link had jumped through before he realized what was going on, and that nothing he did would ever be good enough.</p><p>“If I had somebody who gave back rubs like this, I don’t think I’d ever let them go,” Rhett said. Link’s jaw dropped, but he snapped his mouth shut for the second time in five minutes before an inevitably stupid reply could escape. Rhett’s eyes were still closed, and he was completely relaxed. Link, on the other hand, was blushing so hard that he was lightheaded. Let <em>them</em> go?</p><p>He shook his head to clear it and tried to focus on what he was doing and ignore the fact that he was beginning to have a serious crush on his roommate. Rhett was good looking and smart and seemed like a genuinely nice guy, but Link didn’t really know anything about him. He didn’t even know if Rhett was single. He glanced at Rhett’s hand. No ring, but that didn’t mean no relationship.</p><p><em>Calm down</em>, Link told himself. <em>You’re being completely inappropriate. Even if he’s single, even if he’s into men, he’s only here because he had no choice. And even if he was… it’s only two week. Even though he’s smart, even though he’s gorgeous, even though I’m straddling him and his ass is </em>right there<em> and it wouldn’t take much to slide his pants down and get my hands on it...</em></p><p>The two men were both silent as Link worked down to Rhett’s lower back. “Wait, stop,” Rhett said. Link froze. “Can you put your hand flat on my back right there and push down?”</p><p>“Uh, sure.” Link laid his hand flat over Rhett’s spine. There was a small, vertical scar a few inches lower. “Did you have surgery?” He put some gentle pressure on the spot.</p><p>“Yeah, but it didn’t help very much. Man, you gotta push harder. Just, like, <em>lean</em> into it. But slowly!” Rhett added as Link applied more pressure. A moment later, there was a loud <em>CRACK</em>. Both men yelped, Link in surprise and Rhett in pain and relief.</p><p>Link snatched his hand back. “What the hell! Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” His erection vanished. It seemed he wasn’t into inflicting pain.</p><p>Rhett groaned. “No, I’m good. That helped a lot, actually.”</p><p>“Did you <em>know</em> that was going to happen?” Link demanded. His heart was still pounding and he clutched his hand to his chest like he was the one who’d been hurt.</p><p>“Well, I hoped it would.” Rhett pushed himself up and twisted his head around as much as he could to grin up at Link. “But if I’d told you, I don’t think you’d have done it ‘cause you’re too nice. You wouldn’t want to hurt me.”</p><p>Link scowled down at him because he was absolutely right. “Lie back down so I can finish.” Rhett complied with a smirk, and Link knew he was in trouble.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rhett’s back felt so much better after that that he actually left the room, leaving Link by himself to crawl into bed for a nap. Unfortunately, his mind was whirring much too quickly for him to fall asleep.</p><p>First things first: Link unzipped his jeans and pushed them down, taking hold of himself while the feeling of Rhett beneath him was still fresh. Yes, it was inappropriate, yes, it was kinda creepy, but it was also hot, and it didn’t take him long to finish.</p><p>His immediate issue taken care of, Link tried to be a little more objective about his feelings. He was incredibly attracted to Rhett, and Rhett didn’t seem… unattracted?... to Link, although it was hard to tell. Rhett didn’t mind physical contact,<em> intimate</em> physical contact with Link, who he knew was gay, but he also hadn’t minded sharing a sleeping bag with the Swedish photographer guy. There was no way Link could draw a conclusion from any of that.</p><p>At some point during his turning the same facts in his mind over and over, Link drifted off. When he woke up a couple hours later, he found Rhett lounging back on the bed next to him, clattering away on his laptop. He had two open books propped up against Link’s side.</p><p><em>You have </em>got<em> to be kidding me</em>, Link thought.</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~</p><p>The next couple of days were more of the same. Rhett was able to get up and leave some, so he got his own meals and ran his own errands, but other than that, he spent most of his time propped up on the bed.</p><p>In between the daily routines of buffets and physicals and far too many emails from The Authorities, Link tried to be as productive as possible (it was easy to feel like a slacker when his roommate seemed to spend twelve hours a day on his project, every day), which ended up meaning he spent a lot of time in the stairwell having video calls with his coworkers. It was incredibly frustrating. Why having everyone looking at the same AutoCAD model on a screen while in the same room was so much easier than having everyone look at the same AutoCAD model on a screen while one person was in a stairwell in a ski lodge in Who Knows, Maine, and the rest were in LA, he couldn’t quite pinpoint. Link thought the three hour time difference probably had a lot to do with it.</p><p>He also tried to run as much as possible on the treadmill in the gym. Link usually had to go twice a day to reach his goals, because there were strict time limits for the machines. Evergreen Ridge hadn’t been intended to hold quite this many people.</p><p>There were fewer people than there had been at first, of course. Three people were sent to the hospital on the first day, five on the second, and thirteen on the third. Today, the fourth day, Link had already seen someone taken to one of the ambulances that waited in the parking lot, ready to carry away anyone with a fever, persistent cough, dizziness, or trouble breathing, and it wasn’t even 10am.</p><p>It was truly frightening. Link’s friend Reba confided in him that the only reason her husband had been sent back to Evergreen Ridge to recover from his appendectomy in quarantine was because the hospital knew more sick people from Evergreen Ridge would be coming soon, and they needed space in the isolation ward.</p><p>On Evergreen Ridge Virus Hell, there were posts from some people who were self quarantining themselves in their rooms. Most of them were for making arrangements to get food delivered and errands run. At his physical, Link asked the masked doctor if that would be effective. “No idea,” the doctor replied, voice muffled by the mask. “We’re not sure how contagious it is, or even how the infection spreads. Everyone was exposed on the airplane.”</p><p>Privately, Link suspected that The Authorities hadn’t double quarantined everyone because they didn’t want to deal with the inevitable drama. Two strangers, locked in a hotel room with one bed? It sounded like a recipe for disaster.</p><p>Link ate lunch with Yvette and her kids every day. Charlie and Manon seemed like they weren’t too much bothered by the strange circumstances, but Yvette privately told him that they both had nightmares every night, and that she wasn’t getting enough sleep. She looked exhausted. Her eyes had dark bags under them and her brow was furrowed with worry. Even her bouncy curls seemed limp and tired. Link felt terrible for her, but there wasn’t really any way he could help.</p><p>His own bed sharing situation was in a very strange place. Link both fell asleep and woke up earlier than Rhett. He’d fall asleep with Rhett next to him, laptop keys clattering, and wake up with an arm and a leg draped over Rhett, with Rhett’s arm around him.</p><p>The second time it happened, Link gently extricated himself instead of nearly launching himself out of bed. Rhett shifted a little, but didn’t wake up, which was good because Link’s erection had been poking into Rhett’s leg.</p><p>The next night, Link stuck a pillow between them, under the covers. Rhett took his attention off the note he was scribbling in the margin of his book to see what was happening, but as usual, he said nothing.</p><p>In the morning, the pillow was shoved up to the top of the bed, and once again, Link found himself in the same position he’d been in the previous morning, erection and all.</p><p>If he didn’t die from the virus, he might die of embarrassment.</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~</p><p>“I wish this room had a real bathtub,” Rhett complained. “I’m so damn stiff.”</p><p>“There’s a hot tub downstairs,” Link replied. He was lying flat on his back on the carpet, staring up at the ceiling. It was late afternoon on their fifth day in quarantine, and he’d just gotten off a particularly exasperating video call with his coworkers. If he didn’t have to sit in a chilly stairwell during the calls, Link might be feeling more charitable about the whole thing. As it was, his frustration level was through the roof.</p><p>If Rhett was trying to hint that he wanted another backrub, he was going to be disappointed. Link hated games like that, and he was currently pretty annoyed about literally everything in his life. Rhett was gonna have to use his words like an adult.</p><p>“Oh, really?” Rhett said with genuine interest. “What do people wear? I can’t imagine anyone has a swimsuit.”</p><p>Link shrugged, which didn’t work very well against the floor. “I dunno, I never actually went in there. You’re already wearing basketball shorts, just wear those.” He sat up with a sigh. “I’m about to go down to the gym in a few minutes, if you want to come. I need to burn off some energy.”</p><p>“Your work?” Rhett hadn’t said anything when Link stormed back into the room and threw his laptop on the bed with an exclamation of disgust. He often didn’t say anything. Link wasn’t sure why. Maybe Rhett was trying to respect his privacy, or maybe he was trying to keep up boundaries for himself. Whatever the reason, it kept Link from talking to Rhett much in return.</p><p>“Yeah. Video conference calls are bullshit.” Link grabbed his sweatpants and went into the bathroom to change. Another boundary. Rhett grabbed his towel once Link left, and they were on their way.</p><p>The elevator had almost reached the ground floor when Rhett patted his pockets. “Crap, I left my key in the room.”</p><p>“You wanna go back?”</p><p>“Not really. Um, how about you come to the hot tub if you finish first, and I’ll come to the gym if I finish first? That way one of us can go back to the room and let the other one in later.”</p><p>Link shrugged. “Yeah, that’s fine.”The elevator door <em>dinged</em> open. They went their separate ways. Link was annoyed to find all the treadmills occupied, but no one was waiting so he was able to get one fairly quickly. Of course, three people came in immediately after that, which was pretty typical for his luck these days.  Link scowled and turned the speed up. If he only had a limited amount of time, he was going to go <em>hard</em>.</p><p>Fifteen minutes later, Link was red faced and breathing heavily. He was still pretty annoyed about everything, but at least he didn’t feel like crawling out of his skin anymore. Time to go get Rhett.</p><p>The humid, chloriney air of the surprisingly empty pool room slapped Link in the face like a wet blanket and his glasses fogged up instantly. He wiped them off on his shirt as he walked over to the hot tub. When he put them back on, his stomach dropped.</p><p>There was a woman in the hot tub with Rhett, snuggled against him with her arms slung around his neck. Link felt like he’d misjudged the final step on a staircase and was falling into a crash. He still didn’t know what was happening at night, but obviously he’d completely misjudged everything.</p><p>“H...hey Rhett, sorry to interrupt,” Link stammered. “Just wanted to let you know, I’m going back up to the room.” He spun on his heel, not waiting for a response. All he wanted was to get out of there as quickly as possible.</p><p>“Link--” There was something plaintive in Rhett’s voice that made Link stop and turn around. When he did, Rhett jerked his head minutely toward the woman and gave Link a pleading, unhappy expression. Link narrowed his eyes.</p><p>“You okay, Rhett?” he asked. Rhett opened his mouth, but the woman cut him off and turned towards Link. She was wearing a thin white t-shirt that left absolutely nothing to the imagination.</p><p>“He’s fine, thanks. You can go back to your room now,” she said in a snotty tone and turned back to Rhett. “Right, honey?” Rhett sat still, seemingly paralyzed.</p><p>It seemed to Link like all of his frustrations and annoyances had been embodied in this woman, and he was just so completely done with it all. “Sorry, did I ask you?” he snapped. “No. I asked Rhett.”</p><p>“What are you, his boyfriend?” she sneered. </p><p>“It doesn’t fucking <em>matter</em> who I am!” Link nearly shrieked. His voice bounced off the tiles of the empty pool room. He sounded a little unhinged, even to himself. “What matters is that Rhett looks fucking miserable and he can speak for himself, so I’m gonna ask again: Rhett--” Link looked him in the eye. “Are you okay?”</p><p>“No,” Rhett answered quietly.</p><p>“Then let’s get the fuck out of here.” Link stomped back to the top tub and held a hand out to Rhett, who disentangled himself from the woman and let Link help him out. “You ever heard of enthusiastic consent, lady?” Link shot back as they walked away and Rhett hastily dried off with his towel. “Examine your fucking life.”</p><p>Neither of them spoke until they were alone in the elevator. “Thank you,” Rhett said. He had the towel wrapped around his shoulders and looked very cold.</p><p>“Yeah, no problem,” Link replied. He blew out a breath. The adrenaline was wearing off. “I can’t believe I just did that.”</p><p>“Well, I’m glad you did.” Rhett looked down at his feet. “I’m not very confrontational with strangers, and I’ve never had someone be that… aggressive, I guess. I don’t know what would have happened if you didn’t show up.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Link said again. The last ten minutes had left him more confused than ever. It just wasn’t his day. </p>
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Back in the room, Rhett took a shower first, to rinse off the chlorine. When Link came out after his turn, he was surprised to see Rhett sitting in the desk chair instead of his usual pillow pile on the bed. “Hot tub must have done <em>some</em> good,” Link observed. He sat on the end of the bed, facing Rhett.</p><p>“I guess.” Rhett rubbed his hands over his face and combed them through his hair, making his damp curls stick out all over. “Physically, at least.”</p><p>Link leaned back on his hands and thought. “Do you want to report her?”</p><p>Rhett frowned. “Who would I report her to?”</p><p>“I dunno. There’s probably someone from the National Guard in charge of security. I bet someone on Facebook knows.” Link leaned over and grabbed his phone from the bedside table.</p><p>“No, don’t,” Rhett protested. “I gotta think about this some more.”</p><p>“‘Kay. It’s your decision,” Link said, even though he really, really wanted to take control of the situation. He looked at the clock on the phone. The dinner buffet had just started. “You wanna go get some food?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Rhett pushed himself out of his chair and Link followed him out of the room with a little smile. He’d never seen Rhett <em>not</em> want to get food.</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~</p><p>Dinner was pork chops and baked potatoes. They weren’t very good. Link pushed a gristly bit around his plate and listened to the conversations around them. The mood in The Maine Event was grim--the first person to become sick, the one who’d been the cause of everyone ending up in Maine in the first place--had passed away earlier that day. They’d some other significant health issues, true, but it was still sobering.</p><p>“This food sucks.” Rhett dropped his fork on his plate and pushed it away.</p><p>“Didn’t stop you from eating two of each,” Link observed. He put his fork down as well.</p><p>“Well, I was hungry.” Rhett stood up. “You want me to take your plate?”</p><p>“Oh, thanks.” Link handed over his plate. “I gotta go get poked and prodded, anyway.”</p><p>“Seeya.” With that, Rhett was gone. Link went off to the medical tent. By this time, the whole thing was completely routine, both for him and the masked CDC people. They asked him the same questions as they did every day, and Link gave them the same answers as he always did.</p><p>“Are you still sharing a room with Rhett McLaughlin?” the nurse asked. Link blinked. That was a new one.</p><p>“Yeah… why?”</p><p>The nurse clicked a few things on her computer screen. “Because once this is all over, someone is going to want to study all this data, and maybe figure out some things about this damn virus and how it spreads.” That made sense to Link, so he answered all her questions, even the ones that got uncomfortably personal. (“Sexual contact?” “No!”)</p><p>Link went back to his room, expecting to find Rhett hard at work on his dissertation. The taller man was sitting on the bed as usual, but no laptop or books were in sight. Instead, he had the tv turned on but muted and was flipping through channels. Link raised his eyebrows. This was new.</p><p>“Anything on?” Link asked as he sat on the edge of the bed to pull his shoes off.</p><p>“No.” Rhett dropped the remote, leaving the tv turned to what looked like some sensationalist survival style show. He pulled something up on his phone and handed it to Link.</p><p>“Oh, wow.” It was a post on Evergreen Ridge Virus Hell, a blurry but still recognizable picture of a clearly uncomfortable Rhett in the hot tub, leaning away from the aggressive woman. The all caps caption called her out for CREEPING ON OTHER PEOPLES MEN, and a massive argument had started in the comments. “That’s, uh, that’s quite something. What are you going to do?” he asked as he handed the phone back to Rhett.</p><p>Rhett closed the Facebook app and set the phone on his bedside table. “Nothing, unless somebody specifically asks me. Just gonna let her be tried by the court of public opinion. I don’t want any part of that drama.”</p><p>“Me neither,” Link said. “No dissertation tonight?”</p><p>“I know I won’t be able to concentrate,” Rhett replied with a sigh. “You wanna watch a movie when I get back from my physical?”</p><p>The offer surprised Link, but in a good way. “Yeah, man, that sounds good. By the way, they’re gonna ask you if we’re having sex.”</p><p>It was Rhett’s turn to be surprised, but not in a good way. “<em>What</em>?”</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*</p><p>As soon as Rhett left, Link collapsed backwards on the bed with a groan. It had been a <em>day</em>. His work situation was awful, the CDC wanted to know if he was fucking anyone, dinner was lackluster, someone had actually died from the virus, his distant roommate, upon whom he was developing a massive crush, was starting to treat Link more like a friend, which was very confusing, and oh yeah, said roommate had been sexually harassed through nonconsentual cuddling, and at some point in the evening, Link was almost certain to end up lying all over him. Nonconsensually.</p><p><em>I</em> have<em> to talk to him about this</em>, Link thought. Rhett had to be aware of it--there was no way he could have slept through all of Link’s attempts to get out of bed without waking him--but before this evening, Link had sort of assumed that it didn’t bother Rhett too much. After all, he’d never mentioned it, but now that Rhett had described himself as “not very confrontational,” Link felt horribly guilty.</p><p>“Shit,” Link whispered as he scooted back to lean against the headboard of the bed. He ran his hands through his hair and sighed. Did this make him some sort of predator? It was entirely unconscious on his part, but the end result was the same: unwanted intimate contact.  Link might even be worse than the hot tub woman, because he usually had a full on erection pressed against Rhett’s leg. The thought that he might be making Rhett uncomfortable honestly made Link kind of sick.</p><p>He was so deep in his thoughts that he barely noticed Rhett enter until the other man spoke. “Hey, Link, I have--whoa, are you okay?”</p><p>Link jerked in surprise. “Rhett! No, I really nee--” He stopped as there was an authoritative knock on the door. No one had ever knocked on their door before. “What the hell is that?”</p><p>“Dunno.” Rhett was still in front of the door, so he turned and peered through the peephole. “It’s The Authorities.”</p><p>Link frowned. “What? They never come up here.” </p><p>“Well, they’re here now.” Rhett opened the door. “Can I help you, uh, people?” Dealing with masked figures of indeterminate gender really highlighted the need for better gender neutral language. Link leaned forward and peered around him. The suits and masks suggested they were National Guard.</p><p>“Rhett McLaughlin?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Rhett replied. “Can I ask what this is about?”</p><p>The masked figure ignored him and nodded towards Link. “Charles Neal?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Link said, right as Rhett asked, “<em>Charles</em>?” Link ignored him.</p><p>“We need to talk to you about an altercation you were involved with this afternoon.”</p><p>“Ah.”</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~</p><p>Giving their statements to the National Guard head of security wasn’t as much of a pain in the ass as Link suspected it would be. It did, however, take an hour and a half for Link, and even longer for Rhett. Link sat on the bed and tried to stay up so he could talk to Rhett, but he was exhausted from his horrible day. After the third time he started falling asleep and slumping over, Link gave up and crawled under the blanket. The conversation would have to wait until tomorrow.</p><p>Sometime a little before dawn, Link woke up and his heart sank. He was in his usual position: left leg tangled between Rhett’s legs, left arm across Rhett’s chest, and Rhett’s right arm around his shoulders.</p><p>Oh, and his erection against Rhett’s right thigh.</p><p>Link began to very carefully return to his side of the bed without waking Rhett up. He managed to get his leg back, but as he tried to slip out from under Rhett’s arm, the other man shifted and pulled Link closer.</p><p><em>Crap</em>. Link waited a couple minutes until Rhett’s grip loosened, but as soon as he moved, Rhett pulled him tighter and mumbled, “Don’t go.” </p><p>Link was gobsmacked. Rhett <em>had</em> to be dreaming. “Rhett, let go,” he whispered. “It’s me, Link.”</p><p>“I know who you are.” Rhett’s voice was blurred with sleep, but his words were perfectly clear. </p><p>“O… okay.” Link was confused, partially asleep, and relieved. Rhett didn’t mind their closeness. Maybe he even liked it? Whatever. They’d talk about it for real when they got up. For now, Link put his arm back on Rhett’s chest and his leg between Rhett’s. Rhett moved a little so he could get both his arms around Link.</p><p>On his first night at the hotel, Link said, “I just feel like, if they’re the right person, you’ll <em>know,</em>” when he was talking to Reba about finding the one you loved. He thought this might be the moment.</p><p>Now to figure out literally everything else about this relationship.</p>
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<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Link didn’t panic when he woke up and found himself all tangled up with Rhett, unlike every previous morning at Evergreen Ridge. He wasn’t entirely at ease with it, and wouldn’t be until he talked to Rhett about it while they were both conscious, but he was at least able to admit to himself how nice it was. Rhett was warm and solid and smelled good, and he didn’t snore or thrash around in his sleep. A++, would share a bed with again.</p><p>He looked so much more relaxed and peaceful while asleep, too. Awake, Rhett’s face was usually pinched with pain and his movements were stiff and tense, but sleep evened out the furrows of his brow and softened his posture. Link wondered how much the stress of their situation contributed to Rhett’s chronic pain issues.</p><p>Just in case Rhett turned out to not be okay with the whole cuddling thing, Link let himself linger in bed (and in Rhett’s arms) half an hour longer than he usually would. There was no telling how any of this would end--would they escape Evergreen Ridge Virus Hell without getting sick? If they did get sick, would they recover? If Rhett really <em>was</em> okay with cuddling, what did that mean? Was he into Link? Was he into men? Eventually, Link got himself so wound up with <em>what ifs</em> that he wasn’t enjoying himself any more. </p><p>Rhett was sleeping soundly, at least, and Link was able to get out of bed without waking him. It wasn’t even 9am yet, so Link had a few hours before his California coworkers would be in the office. One of the nice things about the time difference was that it allowed him to have a leisurely morning routine without having to get up at the crack of damn dawn.</p><p>This morning, he planned on eating breakfast (with Reba and her recovering husband Michael, if they were there. They usually were.) and going to the gym before taking a shower and getting to work. Rhett was usually awake by the time Link got back to the room, but not always. Link had no idea how late Rhett stayed up, but he suspected it had to be 3 or 4am. He was in awe of Rhett’s concentration abilities (of course, he might have had more trouble concentrating on his dissertation if they weren’t trapped in a hotel with nothing to do…).</p><p>Link ended up having a very nice morning, which was welcome after the awful day he had yesterday. The breakfast casserole from the buffet was surprisingly tasty, Reba and Michael were lovely company as always (if Michael hadn’t been there, Link might have told Reba about his cuddling issues, but as it was he kept it to himself), and the gym was only half full, so he was able to not only get the treadmill with the best view, he got to use it for as long as he liked.</p><p>Even the thought of spending three hours in the stairwell wasn’t enough to bring him down as he went up to his room. As Link unlocked the door, he could hear Rhett talking. <em>Probably his students again</em>, Link thought. Rhett had one particular student who would not leave him alone. Two days ago, Link had walked in on a particularly exasperated Rhett arguing with a young woman on a video call. “Look, Olivia, I don’t know what to tell you! I am in <em>Maine</em>. I am locked in a hotel surrounded by armed guards. Look, look at this.” Rhett held his phone up to the window, presumably to show the National Guardsmen outside the fence. “There is literally no way I can come in tomorrow.”</p><p>Rhett was already up and dressed, which was unusual. Even stranger, he was sitting on the floor, sorting through his suitcase with one hand while holding his phone in the other. He glanced up at Link, who jerked his head and pointed to the door. <em>Want me to leave?</em> Rhett shook his head. <em>No, it’s fine</em>.</p><p>“Well, I’m real proud of you, bud,” Rhett said as he stuck a couple things in his backpack. “I know how hard you worked on your science fair project. Yeah. No, not until next Saturday. I know, buddy, I miss you too.”</p><p>Link frowned. That wasn’t a student, unless Rhett also taught elementary school.</p><p>“You getting along with your brother?” Rhett continued. He zipped up his backpack and began to stand up. “Excellent. I know you’re both being good while I’m gone. Let me talk to your mom again, okay? Love you too, bud.”</p><p>Link stood dumbfounded as Rhett hoisted his backpack on to the bed. “Hey, Mel. Yeah, I know. I’ll let you know as soon as I find out. Well, it is scary. I’m scared too but we gotta make the best of it. Okay. Yeah. Love you too. Bye.” He ended the call and looked up at Link. “They’re sending me to the hospital.”</p><p>That was literally too much information to process. All Link could come up with was, “What?”</p><p>“The CDC.” Rhett’s jacket was tossed on the desk chair. He pulled it on. “I started getting dizzy two nights ago, and last night I had a fever. They had me check in again this morning, and I still have it, so they’re sending me in for further testing. A CT? Or maybe an MRI?” He frowned. “Something with letters.”</p><p>“You didn’t tell me that!” Link wasn’t sure if he was referring to Rhett’s probable illness, or his apparent partner and kids.</p><p>“I… “ Rhett held up his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry. But I have to go right now. Um, I’m leaving my suitcase, if I don’t come back by the time quarantine ends, the hotel people will ship it back.”</p><p>“Rhett…”</p><p>Rhett wasn’t listening. He shrugged on his backpack and talked right over Link. “And I just want you to know how much I appreciate how much you’ve helped me with my back and how patient you’ve been with me being in the room like 24/7 and not having any privacy and just… “ He pulled an astonished Link into a quick hug. “I’m never gonna forget that.”</p><p>Link gave him a squeeze back. “Jesus, Rhett. Uh, get well soon, I guess?” He tried to smile at Rhett, and didn’t quite succeed. </p><p>“Thanks, man.” And with that, Rhett was gone. Link stood adrift in the empty room for a moment before walking over and collapsing onto the bed.</p><p>“What the fuck?” he whispered. “What the actual fuck.”</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</p><p>Link eventually roused himself enough to go take a shower, but after that, he put on a fresh t-shirt and boxer briefs and sat back down on his side of the bed. Well, the left side of the bed, anyway. The entire bed was his now.</p><p>It felt too big. The <em>room</em> felt too big. Too quiet, too. If Rhett wasn’t typing away on his laptop, he’d be flipping through a journal or scribbling himself a note. Link wondered how much work he’d be able to get done at the hospital. Probably not a lot.</p><p>Link didn’t think he could really articulate his feelings. He was scared for Rhett, terrified, even, but he mostly felt betrayed and taken advantage of. Rhett <em>knew</em>, he knew the entire time, that Link was uneasy about the whole bed sharing thing (for good reason, it turned out), and he still encouraged it and played along with it for whatever reason, while the entire time he had a family.</p><p>Was it some kind of escapism? Wish fulfillment? What happens at Evergreen Ridge stays at Evergreen Ridge? Whatever it was, it <em>hurt</em>.</p><p>Or maybe it wasn’t anything. Maybe it was just not wanting to be alone in what was admittedly a very strange and frightening situation. Link was inclined to be a little more charitable if that were the case, but that hurt, too.</p><p>Link ignored his phone the first two times it rang, but groaned and answered the third call. “Yeah?”</p><p>“Hey, man.” It was one of his coworkers. “You having technical difficulties over there?”</p><p>Oh, right. Another video meeting.</p><p>“No. I just… I just can’t do any more video calls, man.” That was true. Link was ready to heave his laptop down the stairs. “Three hours in a stairwell every day… It’s killing me.”</p><p>“Yeah, I get that, but what are we supposed to do?”</p><p>Link shrugged. “I dunno, tell Mark to call me. He’s the project manager, he can figure it out.”</p><p>It didn’t even take ten minutes for Link’s phone to ring again. Link told Mark he wasn’t doing any more video calls, no matter what incentives they threw at him, because if he got sick (which was likely, as Rhett was sick), they’d have to figure something out anyway, so they might as well start now. However, Link would be <em>delighted</em> to work on whatever AutoCAD files they wanted to send him.</p><p>By the time the call ended, Link got the feeling that Mark was a little taken aback. At work, Link was usually easy going and accommodating. He’d never stood up so forcefully for himself at work before. Would he have done so if his world hadn’t just been turned over? Maybe not, but it was pretty satisfying.</p><p>Link didn’t realize until later that he wouldn’t have had to sit in the stairwell any more. After all, he had his own room now.</p>
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<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>With no Rhett and no work (at least for the rest of the day), Link was left at loose ends. He’d already gone to the gym, he had no appetite, and he didn’t want to talk to anyone. He ended up falling asleep on top of the covers and woke up midafternoon, groggy and disoriented.</p><p>Link looked around the room. It was pretty nice, as hotel rooms went. The headboard of the bed and the desk and chair were whitewashed knotty pine, the picture over the bed was a minimalist painting of a mountain range, and the comforter was a red buffalo check. He figured it wasn’t the most expensive room in the lodge, mostly because it looked out over the parking lot. If Evergreen Ridge had a honeymoon suite, Link hoped the flight attendants got it. They certainly deserved it.</p><p>He was homesick, both for LA and North Carolina. Link didn’t think he could talk to any of his LA friends about this. He had plenty of buddies to have a good time with, but even after six years, he’d yet to find someone he emotionally clicked with.</p><p>Instead, Link called his mom. His sexuality was still a bit of an awkward subject between them, although at this point it was mostly because he didn’t have kids. She might not completely understand him, but Link knew his mom loved him, and he loved her, too.</p><p>She picked up right away. “Link! I was just thinking about you. How are you doing, baby?”</p><p>“Not so hot, Mama.” Link’s voice was choked. He squeezed his eyes shut, but tears escaped anyway. If he’d been talking to anyone but his mama, Link would have been mortified. “I’m havin’ a real hard time.”</p><p>“Oh, honey,” she said tenderly, and then, just like when he was growing up: “Tell me about it.”</p><p>That pushed Link over the edge. He was full on crying now. “My roommate. I told you about him, right?”</p><p>“This is the one who spends all his time writing a paper? With a bad back.”</p><p>“Yeah, and…” Link sighed. “God, this is gonna sound so stupid. I kinda caught feelings for him.”</p><p>“Okay…” Link could tell his mom was a little lost. “Is that a bad thing? Do you think he has feelings for you?” If that were the case, this wouldn’t be the first time they had this conversation.</p><p>“I don’t know!” Link wailed. “I really don’t know. I thought he did, maybe, but they sent him to the hospital and I overheard him on the phone before he left and I think he has a family and I don’t want to be the side piece and break up a relationship!” It all came out in a rush.</p><p>His mom sighed. “Honey, it sounds like you’re making a lot of assumptions.”</p><p>“Yeah, probably.” It wouldn’t be the first time for that either.</p><p>Link and his mom talked for over an hour. She pointed out that many of the people who’d been sent to the hospital had recovered enough to return to Evergreen Ridge to wait out the remainder of their quarantine (Link didn’t have the heart to tell her that a lot of them were still pretty sick and miserable and had only been sent back due to overcrowding at the hospital) and that Mel could Rhett’s sister or a friend. It helped him calm down a lot.</p><p>Things only got a little uncomfortable when his mom asked Link why he felt like a side piece. “There’s nothing wrong with just having a crush, baby.”</p><p>Link’s face grew red. “Well, um, there was some physical stuff…” He heard her make a disappointed noise. “Not like that, Mama! It was completely an accident.”</p><p>“Link, you’re not making any sense.”</p><p>“So, um, you know the lodge is completely full, which is why I have a roommate in the first place.” He was intensely uncomfortable with this conversation.</p><p>“Right.”</p><p>“Okay, but there are only so many rooms in a hotel that have two beds, and we didn’t get one.” Link hadn’t actually told anyone about the bed sharing. “And it turns out I get… cuddly… in my sleep.” If only the earth would open up and swallow him.</p><p>To his shock, his mother laughed. “Well, I could have told you that! When you were growin’ up and had a nightmare, you’d come sleep in my bed and stick to me like a barnacle.”</p><p>“Well, I mean, it’s one thing to snuggle up to your mama,” Link said. “It’s a completely different thing when the other person is a stranger.”</p><p>“True.”</p><p>“So I kept offering to sleep on the floor, but Rhett said he didn’t mind if I slept in the bed. And I know I’d wake him up when I went back to my side of the bed. It was like if we didn’t acknowledge it, it wasn’t happening. But last night… “ Link sighed. “I tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let me and said he wanted me to stay. I was gonna talk to him this morning but then there was the call and he went to the hospital. I don’t know what to do.”</p><p>“Well, why don’t you call him?” his mom suggested, as if it were obvious. “I’ve worked in a hospital. I’ve <em>been</em> in the hospital. He’ll have plenty of time to chat.”</p><p>“I don’t have his number.” Link sounded lame, even to himself.</p><p>“Well, then <em>get</em> his number, honey! Surely someone over there has it.”</p><p>“Yeah.” Link smiled a little. His mom never steered him wrong. “Thanks, mama.”</p><p>“You’re welcome, baby. Now, I saw that Abigail girl you went to high school with at the library yesterday. Did you know she has three kids now?”</p><p>Link rolled his eyes. They were back in familiar territory now. “No, I did not.”</p><p>“Well,” his mom began, and continued on with her update on everyone Link had ever met and a lot of people he hadn’t.</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~</p><p>The problem with Link not having Rhett’s number was that apparently no one else did, either.</p><p>His first instinct was to ask the nurse at his physical that evening, but she wouldn’t give him any of Rhett’s information, citing HIPAA. Link fired back that he wasn’t aware that a phone number counted as health information, but the nurse just shrugged and refused to engage.</p><p>It took a while to come up with another idea, but eventually Link thought to make a post on Evergreen Ridge Virus Hell. Considering how little Rhett had left the room, Link didn’t have high hopes, but he hit submit anyway. It was late by that point, so Link climbed under the covers, still on his side of the bed, and clicked off the light.</p><p>He missed Rhett more than ever then, more than he thought he would. Every previous night at the hotel, Rhett had been next to him, bedside table on and keyboard clicking. If he thought Link had fallen asleep, he might prop a book or two against Link’s back. It was a strange kind of intimacy, born of their strange circumstances, but where things could have gone so spectacularly wrong (and had, for other roommate pairs, based on some of the things that were posted on Evergreen Ridge Virus Hell), instead they became a kind of respectful camaraderie.</p><p>Link didn’t fall asleep for a long time.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next morning, he predictably found himself on Rhett’s side of the bed. “Knew that would happen,” Link mumbled to himself as he leaned over to grab his phone.</p><p>No one on Evergreen Ridge Virus Hell had Rhett’s number, of course. In fact, there was only once response: ask the Authorities, which Link had already tried. He made a face and flipped the phone onto the mattress in disgust. </p><p>The only thing he had to look forward to was not sitting in the stairwell or having to make a video call. Instead, he opened his work email to find that he’d received twenty seven emails from his coworkers. Link answered a few of the most pressing before heading downstairs.</p><p>His buddy Reba and her husband Michael were there, and Reba immediately noticed that something was bothering him. She got Link to spill about his problems even faster than his mom was able to, probably because Link hadn’t spent years lying to her about large parts of his life, the way he had with his mom.</p><p>“So I’m kind of a mess,” Link concluded. He poked the congealed scrambled eggs on his plate with his fork. “I dunno what to do.”</p><p>“He left his suitcase?” Michael asked.</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Check his luggage tag,” Michael suggested. “His number might be on there.”</p><p>“That’s…  a really good idea,” Link said. It seemed so obvious, and Rhett’s hideous neon suitcase was hard to miss. He piled his utensils on his plate and stood up. “I gotta go.”</p><p>“Good luck, honey.” Reba waved goodbye and Michael gave Link a thumbs up as he hustled out of The Maine Event.</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</p><p>Rhett’s phone number was indeed on his luggage tag, which was made of tooled leather with a wood grain texture. It was a beautiful little piece of work, and Link ran his thumb across the textured material before entering Rhett’s number into his phone and sending a text.</p><p>Text to: Rhett McLaughlin</p><p>Link: hey it’s link, just wanted to check in and see how you’re doing</p><p>There was no response. That was alright, Link figured. There were a lot of reasons Rhett might not answer right away. He set his phone off to the side and grabbed his laptop.</p><p>Working at the desk in his room was so much better than sitting in the stairwell that Link briefly considered going back on his stance on video calls before coming to his senses. He did his best to answer as many emails as he could before his coworkers started their workday in California, because he knew that he’d be swamped once it did.</p><p>Link kept being distracted by his phone, though. Every minute or so, he picked it up and checked for an answer from Rhett, even though he had his alerts turned on and he’d hear immediately if Rhett <em>did</em> text him. Link just couldn’t help himself.</p><p>By the time the emails started rolling in, Link knew he had to get a hold of himself. He silenced the phone and put it under his pillow and made a vow not to check it until he went to eat lunch. Somehow, he managed it, and even got a fair amount of work done (certainly more than he’d accomplished on any of his video calls).</p><p>As soon as it was time for lunch, Link slammed his laptop shut and nearly dove across the room for his phone, which showed… no response.</p><p><em>Now what?</em> Link wondered. If he texted Rhett again so soon, he might come off as desperate. Would a call be better? Link scowled at his phone. Why was everything so complicated? He decided to wait a little longer and shoved the phone in his pocket with an exasperated sigh before stomping off to lunch.</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~</p><p>Yvette and her kids weren’t in The Maine Event. Link was a little early, so he didn’t think much of it until he was done eating and saw Yvette filling up a plate with Manon by her side. “Hey, guys,” he said as he walked up. “Where’s Charlie?”</p><p>Yvette turned around. Her lip wobbled and a tear slipped down her cheek. “He’s sick,” Manon told Link solemnly. Her English was a lot better than it had been a week ago.</p><p>Link looked to Yvette for confirmation. “Like, <em>sick</em> sick?” </p><p>She nodded. “He was dizzy yesterday and last night he started coughing… the doctor said, it is not so dangerous for children, and if he does not get… ah, get hot?”</p><p>“A fever?”</p><p>“Yes, a fever. If he does not get a fever, he should be fine. But you know, a mama, she worries anyway,” Yvette said. “So we came to get him lunch.”</p><p>“Oh, let me help!” Link picked up Manon and they filled a plate for Charlie. <em>Thank you</em> Yvette mouthed at him as he helped carry the plates back to their room. The Authorities kept sending out emails asking people not to bring plates to their rooms, and people kept ignoring them. Link figured that they’d station someone at the exit of The Maine Event if they really cared that much.</p><p>Charlie wasn’t very hungry and he didn’t have much energy, but he was glad to see Link. Yvette asked Link if he’d be willing to stay with Charlie for a little bit while she took Manon back to school/daycare and then made some calls. Link absolutely was, and immediately pirated a PDF of Shel Silverstein’s <em>A Light In The Attic</em>. It was a long time favorite of his, and he guessed that it would be new to Charlie (correct) and that Charlie didn’t feel well enough to focus on anything too complex (also correct). The goofy poems and line drawings were just right, and eventually Charlie fell asleep.</p><p>Link took his phone out as Charlie snoozed next to him. No reply from Rhett. He chewed on his lip and tapped his phone on his thigh as he considered what to do next. Yvette came back before he’d come to any conclusion. She saw his expression and asked what was wrong.</p><p>For the second time that day, Link found himself pouring his heart out. Yvette flicked her hand dismissively at Link’s worry that he’d seem desperate. “This man, he has let you sleep with him every night, no?”</p><p>“Um, in English, ‘sleep with’ means…” here Link glanced over at Charlie, who was still soundly asleep. He leaned towards Yvette and whispered anyway. “It means ‘have sex’.”</p><p>“Oh!” Yvette put a hand over her mouth. “Then no, perhaps not quite. But he is not stupid.”</p><p>Link raised his eyebrows. “Are you implying that I’m stupid?”</p><p>“I did not say that,” Yvette replied primly.</p><p>Link snorted in laughter. He clapped a hand over his mouth, but Charlie didn’t wake up. “Guess I have a phone call to make.”</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~</p><p>Rhett’s phone went straight to voicemail. Link left a message anyway, saying basically what he’d said in his text, just with a lot more stammering.</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*</p><p>Link hadn’t heard from Rhett by the time he went to bed, so he sent another text before climbing into his side of the too big, too empty bed.</p><p>There was no answer when he woke up, and no answer by lunchtime. Link tried calling again, but once again it went directly to voicemail. He didn’t bother leaving a message.</p><p>At this point, he was more worried than anything else. Even if Rhett <em>didn’t</em> have feelings for him, Link couldn’t imagine him not at least texting back an acknowledgement.</p><p>Link wracked his brains. Who else would know something about Rhett? If <em>he</em> were sick, who would The Authorities inform? His mother, of course--he’d put her down as his emergency contact. Who was Rhett’s emergency contact?</p><p>
  <em>Hey, Mel.</em>
</p><p>Would Mel be willing to help him? Maybe. Link would have to get her number first.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was a third faction of The Authorities, much smaller than the CDC and National Guard: the hotel staff. There were maybe eight or ten of them, working in shifts to make sure the lodge continued to function. They had volunteered and were being compensated with hazard pay and bonuses that Link thought criminally low until he realized that the cost of living in rural Maine was much, much lower than in LA.</p><p>The front desk was usually staffed by one of them, so Link lurked in the lobby until there was no one around to overhear him. When the coast was clear, he slunk over.</p><p>The hotel guy was wearing the National Guard hazmat gear, but he’d personalized it a little with two stickers on the chest. One said <em>HELLO my name is BRIAN</em> and the other was the heart eyes emoji. It was such a little gesture, but it immediately made Link hold Brian in high esteem.</p><p>“Hey, what can I do for you?” Brian said cheerfully as Link walked up. Another point in his favor. None of the other Authorities were cheerful. Polite, yes, nice, yes, but cheerful? No.</p><p>“I was wondering if maybe you could get me the number of my roommate’s emergency contact,” Link began. “He went to the hospital and I haven’t been able get a hold of him. I’m kind of worried.”</p><p>“Understandable,” Brian replied. “What’s his name?”</p><p>“Rhett McLaughlin.”</p><p>“Okay, just give me a minute.” Link watched in astonishment as Brian pulled something up on his computer and scribbled on a Postit note. It was so <em>easy</em>. Link had been ready to fight Brian or tell him some kind of sob story, if need be, but he just handed the note to Link. It said <em>Melanie McLaughlin</em> followed by a number with a California area code. “Hope she can help.”</p><p>“Me, too.” Link took the note. “Thanks, man.”</p><p>“No problem.”</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</p><p>
  <em>Melanie McLaughlin</em>
</p><p>Link made a face at the Postit stuck to his desk. A sister? A wife? A cousin? An aunt? The emergency contact didn’t list what their relationship was, and he couldn’t just ask. <em>Hey, your brother/husband/whoever is in the hospital, and I’m worried about him. Also, is he single?</em></p><p>He waited until 3pm to call. That was noon in California, and maybe he could catch her at lunch. Link took a deep breath and called. It rang twice before a woman picked up.</p><p>“Hello?”</p><p>“Hi, may I speak with Melanie McLaughlin?” Link used his best telephone voice, the one he used when calling strangers at other companies.</p><p>“Who is this, please?” she asked, a little suspicious.</p><p>“My name is Link Neal, and I’m Rhett’s, uh, Rhett’s roommate at Evergreen Ridge. I keep trying to get in touch with him but he hasn’t responded.” Link managed to get most of his words out clearly, even though he was horribly nervous. “I’m really worried about him.”</p><p>“Oh!” Melanie’s demeanor changed entirely. “Yes, this is Mel. He’s mentioned you a few times.”</p><p>Good things, Link hoped. “Is he okay?”</p><p>“He’s… okayish,” she said. “Like, he’ll be fine, eventually, he’s just really miserable right now. He’s got really bad vertigo, and he has a high fever, so he’s pretty out of it. Oh, and he was on oxygen at first, but not anymore.”</p><p>Link grabbed on to the most important detail. “But he’s gonna be okay?”</p><p>“He’s gonna be okay,” Mel confirmed. “The doctor said they’ll discharge him once his fever is gone, because that’s probably contributing a lot to his dizziness.”</p><p>“Oh, thank goodness.” Link could feel some tension seeping out of him. “I’ve gotten pretty close to him and when he didn’t get back to me… I kinda started freaking out.”</p><p>“If you want, I can text you with updates,” Mel offered. “Since I don’t think he’ll be using his phone much.”</p><p>“That would be great! Thank you so much, Mel.” </p><p>It was only after the call ended that Link realized he still had no idea what her relationship to Rhett was.</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~</p><p>Two days passed. Link answered approximately five thousand emails, all of which were about how he needed to change his AutoCAD model. It was still better than sitting in the stairwell.</p><p>Just as Charlie began to get better, Manon started getting sick. Link ended up spending a fair amount of time with them so Yvette could get a break. They were such sweet kids, even when sick, that he didn’t mind at all. </p><p>Mel texted him sporadically, little updates about Rhett. His fever went down, his fever went back up, the vertigo got a little better but he still couldn’t sit up. The texts helped, but once again, Link couldn’t ask her about her relationship with Rhett without coming off as weird or creepy. He was pretty sure they were in a relationship, though. Mel talked about Rhett in a way that made Link think they had a very close relationship, and at one point she mentioned how much “the kids” missed him.</p><p>And so Link decided that if Rhett returned to Evergreen Ridge before the quarantine was up, because as much as he was attracted to Rhett, he wasn’t willing to be a side piece. Even if it was just for quarantine.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was a lot of drama happening around Evergreen Ridge that Link hadn’t paid much attention to before, but now that he kept his phone near for any updates from Mel, he found himself spending a lot of time on Evergreen Ridge Virus Hell. Half the posts were rational, practical things (<em>Does anyone know how to braid hair?</em> or<em> I have Beauty and the Beast on DVD if anyone would like to borrow it.</em>) and half of it was utter nonsense that would fit right in on the Best of Nextdoor twitter.</p><p>Link secretly loved it. The polls where all the choices were pretty much the same, just slightly reworded, the passive aggressive posts about people who were LOUD in the hallway after NINE PM, can we have some formal quiet hours, <em>please?</em>, blurry pictures through windows of various wildlife coupled with arguments about whether a certain critter was a coyote or a wolf. It was wonderfully stupid, and there were always new posts because everyone else was just as bored as Link was.</p><p>It was the fourth night he’d been alone in the big bed, and Link still had no desire to sleep in the middle. Even though all of Rhett’s belongings were packed into his neon green suitcase (which Link had then tucked away in the closet), there was still too much of him in the bed. There was no housekeeping, so Rhett’s pillowcases still smelled faintly of his aftershave or pomade or whatever it was. Link left them piled on the right side of the bed and just used the pillow Reba had given him that first night. It seemed like ages ago.</p><p>The latest text from Mel had arrived about an hour ago. All it said was <em>his fever is almost gone but he’s still really dizzy</em>, which wasn’t really any different from most of the texts she sent. Rhett’s better, no he’s not, yes he is, no he’s not… It was better than nothing, though, so Link was thankful for every non-update.</p><p>The next morning was the same as every morning. Breakfast with Reba and Michael, gym, answer a never ending stream of emails and make a couple non-video phone calls, go eat lunch, help Yvette take food up to her kids. Charlie had recovered enough to want to play a game with Link on the tablet, while Manon just watched.</p><p>When Yvette came back, Link said his goodbyes and ambled back to his room. His thoughts were on his project. Finally, it seemed that he’d come to a consensus with his coworkers on how to fit the fuel cells in the helicopter engine. If things kept going so well, he might even consider another video call. Maybe.</p><p>Link was so caught up in his imaginary conversation about video calls that he didn’t notice there was another person in the room until they spoke. </p><p>“Hey.”</p><p>Link jerked and let out an undignified little screech. Rhett stood in front of the window, wrapped in the spare comforter. “Check it out, Link, it’s snowing.”</p><p>Link glanced at the window. It was snowing, thick, fluffy flakes that promised to cover everything in a smooth, white blanket, but he wasn’t interested in that. “You’re back!”</p><p>Rhett nodded. “I’m back.” He didn’t look much different--messy curls, short beard, absurdly tall. His eyes might not have had such dark circles underneath when he left, but Link wouldn’t swear on it. Everyone at Evergreen Ridge looked tired and stressed out all the time. “Did you miss me?” Rhett’s mouth quirked into a half smile. “I see that you put my suitcase away.”</p><p>“It was too bright,” Link replied absently. <em>Did you miss me?</em> The answer was yes, of course, but he wasn’t going to tell Rhett that. He <em>couldn’t</em> tell Rhett that. It would have been so much easier if Rhett had spent the rest of quarantine in the hospital, so Link didn’t have to deal with his feelings, didn’t have to have the conversation that was about to happen, didn’t have to share a bed with this gorgeous, infuriating man, who had a family at home.</p><p>Rhett frowned at him. “You okay, man?”</p><p><em>No</em>. “I’m fine,” Link replied. “Just surprised to see you.”</p><p>“Mmm.” Rhett beckoned him to the window. “Come watch this snow with me for a minute.”</p><p>Link went to the window and stood next to Rhett. It <em>was</em> beautiful snow. He imagined Evergreen Ridge inside of a snow globe, a tiny lodge surrounded by tiny tents and trailers and shipping container labs. “How’s your back?” he asked.”</p><p>Rhett laughed. “It’s good! All this bedrest has been great for it.” He sighed and grew a little wistful. “I wish we were here for vacation, though. I love skiing.” He looked at Link. “What about you? Do you like to ski?”</p><p>Link shook his head. “I used to snowboard, but in college I crashed and broke my pelvis and got a concussion that gave me short term amnesia, so I kind of lost the taste for it, you know?”</p><p>“Yikes.” Rhett was standing very, very close to Link, who was mildly panicking. “I missed you, Link. I would have answered your messages if I could have, but I couldn’t really move. Or see. Or think.”</p><p>“It’s okay, I talked to… what are you doing?” Link dodged out from under Rhett’s arm as he tried to put it around Link’s shoulders. “I’m not gonna be your quarantine boyfriend.”</p><p>Rhett snatched his arm back and dropped it to his side, wounded. The comforter fell to the floor. “<em>What</em>?”</p><p>Link threw his hands in the air. “I mean, maybe if you didn’t have a family, I would, but you do.”</p><p>“What?” Rhett repeated. He looked genuinely confused now.</p><p>“Mel!” Link snapped. “She’s been texting me updates about you. You have <em>kids</em>, Rhett! And you think you can just… just…” He waved his hands around wildly, as if that would convey his feelings on the subject. “And I’m not gonna do it!”</p><p>Comprehension dawned over Rhett’s face. “Link, Mel is my sister in law. She’s married to my brother.”</p><p>“I… but, you live with her?” Link was still lost.</p><p>“Kind of?” Rhett shrugged. “I live in the pool house. Mel’s family is old Hollywood money. When I got accepted to the history program at UCLA, my brother offered to let me stay with them, which is pretty funny because he’s in the Navy and is gone for months at a time, so it’s not like he has to deal with me. Mel and the kids and I all get along, though, so it works.”</p><p>“Oh.” Link felt incredibly, incredibly stupid. He heard his mother’s voice in his mind’s ear. <em>Honey, you’re making a lot of assumptions</em>. “Rhett, I’m so sorry. I should have asked...” he trailed off.</p><p>Rhett leaned over and picked up the comforter. “It’s okay. Things are so fucked up these days… I’m not surprised some wires got crossed.” He wrapped the comforter back around him. “So I guess I need to clarify some things.”</p><p>“Okay…” Link said hesitantly. He’d backed away and was now standing in front of the desk. His heart was pounding and he kind of wanted to run out of the room. Maybe Yvette would let him sleep on her floor?</p><p>“I’m single,” Rhett said. </p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>“And I’m into you.”</p><p>“O...okay.” Link still kind of wanted to run away, but he thought he might fall over if he moved. He grabbed the edge of the desk and held on tight.</p><p>“And I sort of assumed you were into me.”</p><p>“I...I …” Link stammered. “Yeah. Yeah, I am.”</p><p>A smile spread across Rhett’s face. It rounded his cheeks and made his eyes crinkle in an absolutely delightful way. “Then would you like to be my quarantine boyfriend?”</p><p>Link opened his mouth to say <em>yes</em> but what actually came out of his mouth was, “<em>Just</em> quarantine?” There were only a few days of quarantine left, and Link needed to know what to expect.</p><p>Rhett got a thoughtful look on his face. “I guess that depends on where you live.”</p><p>“If you still live at the place on your luggage tag, I’m like thirty minutes away,” Link said. He didn’t want to run away anymore. Maybe, just maybe, there was something between him and Rhett, something that could turn into something <em>real</em>. Link held his breath as he waited for Rhett’s answer.</p><p>“Oh, wow!” Rhett said. “That’s awesome. We can go do stuff that isn’t just hanging around in a hotel room.”</p><p>Link grinned and sagged in relief. He didn’t want to run away, and he didn’t think he was going to fall over. He let go of the desk and walked back to the window and stood next to Rhett. “You wanna watch the snow?”</p><p>“Sounds good.” Rhett stood behind him and wrapped the comforter around them both. They stood there, watching the fluffy snowflakes drift around, embracing while conscious for the first time. </p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</p><p>“So I guess I should tell you, I’ve never really done this before,” Rhett mumbled. He was lying on his stomach on the floor, shirtless. Link was straddled over him, giving Rhett a back massage. The stretch in his inner thighs as he spread his legs wide to fit over Rhett and the noises he made when Link dug his thumbs into Rhett’s tight muscles made Link very, very hard. It was a good thing he didn’t have to hide it from Rhett anymore.</p><p>“What are you talking about?” Link asked, deliberately misunderstanding Rhett. “I gave you a backrub like a week ago.” He smirked as Rhett twisted his neck around to make a face at him.</p><p>“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”</p><p>“So what <em>have</em> you done?” Link asked. He didn’t want to force Rhett into anything he wasn’t ready for.</p><p>Rhett turned his face back into the comforter. Link could tell he was blushing because his ears and the back of his neck were bright red. “Handjobs, mostly. I gave a guy a blowjob once, but I didn’t really like him so it wasn’t that great. I’ve, um, topped a couple women. Can you say that? Topped women?”</p><p>“Beats me.” Link never thought about having sex with women. He shrugged and pushed his thumb into a muscle knot. Rhett made a noise, half pleasure and half pain, that went straight to Link’s groin.</p><p>“And I’ve been pegged,” Rhett concluded. “And that’s about it. At least for anything that concerns you.”</p><p>Link raised his eyebrows. That was interesting. “So what did you like? And what do you want to do?” He didn’t want to pressure Rhett into anything.</p><p>Rhett made a little noise that Link recognized as <em>this is so embarrassing</em>. “What do <em>you</em> want to do?”</p><p>“Honestly?” Link said. “I’ll do whatever you want me to do, but…” here he leaned over and whispered in Rhett’s ear. “I’d really love to fuck you.”</p><p>Rhett whimpered in pure desire. “Please.”</p><p>Link shimmied his hips down so that he could line his erection up with the cleft of Rhett’s ass. “You are sooo lucky that I was too busy to get on French Grindr so I have supplies with me.” He grabbed Rhett’s shoulders and ground against him until they were both panting with desire.</p><p>“I am going to take <em>such</em> good care of you,” Link murmured. He leaned in and kissed the back of Rhett’s neck. “So just relax and don’t worry about a thing.”</p><p>“Link.” Rhett tried to look back at him, failed, and rolled over. After some awkward repositioning, he ended up on his back with Link on top of him. Rhett put his hands on Link’s slender waist. “You’ve been taking care of me since we got off the bus.”</p><p>Link laughed. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.” Rhett pulled him down into a lazy kiss. “I decided a while ago that I was just going to be the best person I could be, and I guess that means taking care of people.” Link said, and kissed Rhett again.</p><p>“Well, you’re pretty good at it,” Rhett said.</p><p>“I’ll show you something else I’m pretty good at,” Link leered down at him, and they burst into giggles.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Chapter 16</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter was written by the lovely @sohox, my writing partner and tumblr bff, and it's 100% sex. If you're here for plot, please come back tomorrow, because today is pure porn.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They ended up on the bed in their original position, Link straddling a facedown Rhett, but this time they were both naked. Link was over the moon. Rhett was <em>gorgeous</em>, and he was completely limp and compliant under Link’s hands, and Link put his hands <em>everywhere</em>.</p><p>He loved the contrast in their skin tones, both tan in different ways. He wanted to memorize the location of every perfect freckle that graced Rhett’s skin, like a constellation map. Mostly, he wanted to learn where he could touch to drag a filthy moan straight from Rhett’s mouth. </p><p>He let his fingers splay wide over Rhett’s lower back, digits curling around his love handles. Link was entranced by the dip of the taut muscles under his palms, his thumbs trailing along Rhett’s lower spine, over the little surgery scar. He reached the cleft of Rhett’s ass, thumbs dipping into the valley of his flesh. They both groaned aloud when Link pulled Rhett open. When the quick intake of breath Rhett pulled in caused his whole body to tense under Link’s thighs, the slender man leaned forward, peppering kisses to the nape of Rhett’s neck until he relaxed again. </p><p>“I’ve been wanting to do this for a while,” Link murmured, stretching to grab the bottle of lube. He popped the cap and drizzled the cool liquid all along Rhett’s crack. He slid his fingers down the seam of Rhett’s body, his touch light and teasing. His slick digits circled Rhett’s puckered hole, pressing his fingertip right against it. Rhett tensed again. “You gotta relax or I’ll never even get my finger in there,” Link teased him.</p><p>Rhett didn’t say anything, but Link caught sight of his head giving an imperceptible nod and Rhett huffed out a long breath. Link took that as a sign to keep going forward, pressing his fingertip against Rhett’s entrance, firm and insistent but still gentle, until his body complied, finally spreading open for Link. “Oh, <em>Rhett,” </em>Link whispered, watching his slippery finger disappear into Rhett’s tight warmth. “I wish you could see this.” Rhett groaned, both at the sensation and the hungry sound of Link’s voice. He was breathing in tiny pants, licking his lips and hugging the pillow under his head and chest a little tighter. </p><p>Link leaned back slightly, giving himself more room to watch his finger pump in and out, dripping more lube over his own hand to get Rhett nice and slick. His own cock pressed insistently against his own hipbone, smearing wet, waiting patiently.  “You ready for another?” he asked, pulling his finger all the way out. </p><p>“Yeah,” Rhett gasped. “Gimme another.” </p><p>Link was happy to oblige. He savored the whimpers tumbling from Rhett’s mouth as his body stretched to take two fingers this time. Link pressed deep, twisting his hand to better stroke into Rhett’s body. He was so tight, barely opening up for Link. Rhett tried to look over his shoulder once again, pulling one leg up at an angle to open himself up even further. </p><p>“Don’t forget to breathe,” Link reminded him. Rhett let out his breath in a rush and relaxed a little. “Better,” Link said. He tried to angle his fingers again, finally brushing against that bundle of nerves deep inside. </p><p>Rhett’s entire body shuddered and he pushed his hips back at the sensation “More, Link. C’mon, <em>now!” </em> </p><p>Link smirked, pumping his fingers in and out for a few more strokes, loving the needy whine painting Rhett’s words. He tried to spread his fingers apart, loosening up the muscles surrounding his digits before pulling them out entirely. What he really wanted was to get his mouth on Rhett, but that would have to wait for another time. “You sure you’re ready? Or do you want another finger?” </p><p>“I’m ready.” Rhett spread his legs a little further apart, making space for Link. Link snatched up the condom and tore it open with his teeth before quickly rolling it down his aching length. He hissed out a deep breath as he coated his cock with a palm full of lube before lining up his flushed head with Rhett’s entrance. </p><p>“God, that looks good,” Link whispered as he sank in, inch by inch, the feeling of tight heat overwhelming him. “You’re taking it so <em>good</em>, baby.” </p><p>“Fuck fuck <em>fuck.” </em>Rhett angled his hips upward, pushing up on his arms to take more of Link’s thick cock. “Link, fuck, you’re really deep.”</p><p>Link laughed. “I’m not even all the way in yet. Just relax.” He eased back and leaned forward a few times as Rhett relaxed, until his hips finally met the backs of Rhett’s thighs, cock all the way in. Link took in several shaky breaths, trying to calm himself enough not to cum immediately. Rhett was so tight, and the way his long torso stretched out in front of him left Link feeling lightheaded and right on the edge. After a beat he pulled his hips back, pulling nearly all the way out before snapping them forward again, the head of his cock finding Rhett’s prostate easily. </p><p>“Oh, <em>fuck.”</em> Rhett sounded breathless, moving up slightly onto his knees, just enough to tilt his hips up further and pull open himself up even more. His tight passage pulsed hard around Link with every shuddering breath he pulled into his lungs. It was almost too much, it punched Link’s own breath right out of his chest. Link started slow, steadily rocking his hips back and forth until Rhett took him easily, smoothly, both breathing heavily into the quiet of the room. Link’s hands roamed every inch of Rhett’s back, feeling his lungs expanding under his palms with each shaky breath. </p><p>Link reached under Rhett, his strong fingers wrapping tight around the throbbing base of Rhett’s cock. Rhett was dripping, already wet, and it helped Link’s hand slide smoothly up his shaft and back down again. Every stroke of Link’s hand had Rhett undulating his hips, bucking up into Link’s tight fist, then slamming backward back onto Link’s hard cock. </p><p>“Fuck, Rhett, I‘m not gonna be able to hold out much longer,” Link groaned, flattening himself onto the curve of Rhett’s back, their bodies touching everywhere. “You feel so <em>good</em>.” Link pumped his fist harder, faster, adding in a twist at the top to swipe over Rhett’s leaking head. Suddenly Rhett went completely still, rigid under the weight of Link’s own body. His hand wrapped around Link’s and together they pumped, once, twice, then Rhett was pulsing, cum pooling between their fingers. Rhett was barely breathing, just panting an endless string of whimpers that might have been <em>Link, Link, Link</em>.</p><p>It was too much, the smell of Rhett in the air, the feeling of his body under Link’s chest, the way his ass was still gripping Link’s cock. Suddenly every thought of attraction, every feeling of lust since they arrived slammed into Link and he came, biting Rhett’s shoulder as his own body spasmed.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Chapter 17</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Wanna watch a movie?” Rhett asked, once they’d calmed down and cleaned up.</p><p>“Sure, but don’t you have to work on your dissertation?” Link asked.</p><p>Rhett shook his head. “Nah. I was <em>extremely</em> productive last week. I mean, it wasn’t like I was going to be doing anything else, and it was all fresh in my mind. And I kind of thought if I was obviously focused on something else, you might relax a little.”</p><p>Link felt vaguely ashamed, for some reason. “I’m sorry.”</p><p>“Don’t be sorry, man. This shit is so weird, I didn’t know what to do, either. I mean, I’ve only recently admitted to myself that hooking up with guys in college wasn’t just ‘a phase’.” Rhett made air quotes and rolled his eyes. “And now there’s a cute guy who’s really nice, and he’s gay, and we have to <em>share a bed</em>… it’s like, what is this? Some kind of porn?” He threw his hands up helplessly.</p><p>Link laughed. “Imagine it from my side. You’re gay, sharing a bed with a stranger who doesn’t seem to care one way or the other, and you wake up every morning basically humping his leg? And then neither one of us would acknowledge it… I felt like I was losing my mind.”</p><p>“I noticed,” Rhett said wryly. “So I figured I’d make a move, but like… a <em>deniable </em>one.”</p><p>“It kind of got interrupted but it worked eventually, I guess.” Link climbed into the bed and sat in the middle. Rhett joined him, shoulders and legs touching, and opened his laptop. He went to open Netflix, but Link stopped him. “Wait, go back. What’s your wallpaper?”</p><p>“Oh, that’s my bog body.” Rhett minimized the window and Link leaned forward, fascinated. It was a man, lying on his side in the fetal position. He was slightly squished and his skin was dark and leathery, but he was otherwise so well preserved that he could have been sleeping. Every wrinkle on his face, every whisker, every eyelash was present. “He’s got a lot of jewelry and his hands aren’t calloused, which is why we think he was high status, and he was strangled and stabbed in what seems like a deliberate manner, which is why we think he was a sacrifice.”</p><p>“Wow,” Link said. “He looks way less gross than I imagined.”</p><p>“Yeah, it was an amazing find. We know what his last meal was, how old he was, where he grew up… so much information.” Rhett pulled Netflix back up. “So what do you wanna watch?”</p><p>“Um, <em>The Mummy</em>?” Link suggested. He scowled at Rhett’s expression. “Don’t laugh, it’s a good movie!”</p><p>“I wasn’t laughing!” Rhett protested. “Brendan Frasier is a treasure.”</p><p>“Damn right he is.” Rhett began the movie and Link snuggled up to him. They were awake and the air had been cleared, and he never wanted anything else.</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~</p><p>Link woke up the next morning draped over Rhett, as usual, but this time, he relaxed into it. He was only in his boxer briefs, but Rhett was fully clothed in sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt. His fever wasn’t quite gone, but he said that having Link next to him helped a lot, and Link was happy to share his body heat.</p><p>He thought about the future as he snuggled closer to Rhett. Would he have agreed to this if Rhett hadn’t lived in the same city, or if he’d only wanted it while at Evergreen Ridge? It was hard to say, but Link hoped he would have been strong enough to stand up for himself. He absolutely would have had to find somewhere else to sleep, though.</p><p>There was no telling what the future held, of course. When they got back to LA, would they be able to spend time together? Would things be different when they weren’t trapped in Evergreen Ridge Virus Hell? Was their proximity the only thing their relationship had going for it?</p><p>Link found he wasn’t too worried. He genuinely liked Rhett, a lot, and Rhett seemed to really like him, too. The circumstances were weird, but it was a better starting point than some of Link’s previous relationships, for sure.</p><p>Rhett stirred beneath Link and opened his eyes. “Hi,” he whispered.</p><p>“Hi,” Link said back. “Sleep well?”</p><p>“I did,” Rhett replied. “I can’t believe we’re going home in two days.”</p><p>“I knooow.” Link untangled himself from Rhett and stretched. “It feels like it’s been two months, not two weeks.”</p><p>“Mmm.” Rhett rolled over on top of Link and nuzzled his face into Link’s neck. “What do you want to do with our remaining time?”</p><p>“I want to spend it all with you, of course.” Link pressed his morning wood up against Rhett. “But I have to answer some emails and I told Yvette I’d watch her kids for a couple hours.”</p><p>“They’re not in that school/daycare thing?”</p><p>Link shook his head. “They got sick, but not sick enough to go to the hospital, so she’s been stuck in her room. A couple days ago I watched them all afternoon so she could come in here and get some real sleep.”</p><p>Rhett rolled off of him and sat up. His back cracked alarmingly as he did so. “You’re just like… probably the most caring and thoughtful person I’ve ever met, Link. I really admire that about you.”</p><p>“Thanks.” Link could feel his cheeks going pink. “You wanna go get some breakfast? It’s probably gonna suck.”</p><p>Rhett made a disgusted face. “There’s no way it could be worse than the hospital food. Ugh.”</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*~</p><p>While Link was standing in the buffet line at The Maine Event, he happened to look over and see Reba and her husband Michael walking out. Reba glanced over and saw him. A short conversation took place through expressions and gestures.</p><p><em>Is that him?</em> Reba asked as Rhett, oblivious, filled his plate.</p><p>
  <em>Yeah.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>How’d it go?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Great! </em>
</p><p>Reba smacked Michael on the arm with the back of her hand and said something to him. They both gave him big grins and a thumbs up.</p><p><em>Thank you!</em> Link mouthed. He’d already added Reba on Facebook, even though it was clear that the Evergreen Ridge Virus Hell group was going to continue once everyone returned to their real lives. Being able to talk to others who’d been in the same bizarre situation was going to be very valuable.</p><p>“So.” Rhett turned around, plate full. He’d completely missed Link’s conversation. “Where do you wanna sit?”</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~</p><p>“This is the worst vacation I have <em>ever</em> had, even when I was at the beach and was burned by the, ah, the medusa?” Yvette said. They were sitting in the lobby, watching Charlie and Manon play with a couple other kids.</p><p>“The what?” Link asked.</p><p>“You know, the animal in the ocean, it is clear and squishy, with the… strings that burn if they touch you?” She made a vague trailing motion with her hand.</p><p>“Oh, a jellyfish.”</p><p>Yvette snorted. “That is a stupid name. It burned me on my arm and both legs so bad I could not swim or sit in the sun. But this is worse. I have not seen my sister in four years. Manon has not ever met her! But instead we are locked in this hotel, food is bad, both children get sick, everything.”</p><p>“I know,” Link said. “I feel so bad for you.” He hadn’t enjoyed most of his stay at Evergreen Ridge either, but it was nothing compared to Yvette.</p><p>“Ah!” Yvette held up her finger. “But we will not go home yet! We will go to a different hotel and my sister will come to Maine for one week.”</p><p>“Yvette! That’s great!” Link held out his arms and Yvette hugged him.</p><p>“If you didn’t help, it would not have happened,” she said. “You helped so much with Charlie and Manon… thank you, thank you, thank you.”</p><p>Link gave her a final squeeze and let go. “Next time you come to the US, let me know, okay? I’ll come see you wherever you are.”</p><p>“Oh, and will you bring your boyfriend?” Yvette raised an eyebrow.</p><p>“Maybe.” Link’s lips twitched up into a little smile. “I hope so, anyway.”</p><p>Yvette gave him a big, knowing grin.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Rhett's mummy is basically Tollund Man. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tollund_Man</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Chapter 18</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After he came back from his lunch with Yvette, Link cleared his schedule for the final day and half of his quarantine, which consisted of a call to his manager and an email to everyone on the project telling them, in so many words, to fuck off and let him relax a little. He also negotiated a few days off when he returned to LA so he could deal with putting his life back together.</p><p>“That was impressive,” Rhett said from his usual spot on the bed. He’d been listening to Link’s phone call. “Very efficient, very professional.”</p><p>Link left his phone on the desk and flung himself onto the bed to snuggle up with Rhett. “What, you thought I’d be a pushover because I’m nice?”</p><p>Rhett shrugged. “Not necessarily. I mean, I don’t really know you that well yet.”</p><p><em>Yet</em>. That one short word filled Link with warmth. It held so much promise. He sighed happily and relaxed into Rhett.</p><p>Rhett kissed the top of his head. “What are you thinking about?”</p><p>“Oh, just how absurd this situation is,” Link said. “It really is like a romantic comedy or something.”</p><p>“Except for all the people who got really sick, or the one who died.” Rhett shook his head. “I got off lightly.”</p><p>“Yeah.” Link had talked to Reba and Yvette about the atmosphere of constant low-level fear in the lodge. Everyone was always waiting for the other shoe to drop, and there was nothing anyone could do. Link asked the CDC people how he’d managed to avoid getting sick when Rhett did. They just shrugged and said, “Some people don’t seem to be susceptible to it. We don’t know why yet.”</p><p>“But even with how awful it’s been, I’ve met some amazing people,” Link continued. “Yvette and her kids, Reba and her husband…”</p><p>“Aren’t you forgetting someone?” Rhett asked, holding a hand to his chest in faux hurt.</p><p>“Oh, right. You! I met you.” Link threw a leg over Rhett to straddle him and wrapped his arms around Rhett’s neck before kissing him. “And I’m so glad I did.”</p><p>“Me too.” Rhett kissed him back, and they didn’t talk any more after that.</p><p>~*~*~*~*~*~*</p><p>On their final day at Evergreen Ridge, Rhett and Link only left their room to get food. The rest of the time they spent having sex, talking, and talking about having sex.</p><p>“So did it live up to your expectations?” Link asked. He leaned over the side of the bed and retrieved his hoodie.</p><p>Rhett had already pulled his shirt on. He gave Link a slightly bewildered look. “Did what live up to my expectations?”</p><p>“Well, before, you said you gave a guy a blowjob but you didn’t really like it because you didn’t like him, so I was wondering…” Link shrugged nonchalantly. “Did you like it more this time?”</p><p>“Tell me,” Rhett began as he fluffed his pillow pile and lay back. “Was there any part of that that made you think I <em>wasn’t</em> enjoying it?”</p><p>“No, no, you looked like you were having a great time,” Link said, grimacing. “Me, on the other hand…”</p><p>Rhett threw up his hands. “Oh my god, it was my second attempt in like twenty years! I’ll be more careful with the teeth next time, I promise.”</p><p>“I know. I just had to tease you a little bit.” Link, hoodie on, tucked himself under Rhett’s arm. “Are you ready to go home tomorrow?”</p><p>Rhett sighed and leaned his cheek against the top of Link’s head. “Yes and no, I guess. I’m really looking forward to getting out of here--”</p><p>“Jesus Christ, I know,” Link muttered under his breath.</p><p>“--but there’s a kind of safety here, too, if that makes sense. Yeah, we were all in grave danger, but it never really felt like it to me, except when they sent me to the hospital. And even then, once they did the lung scan and said it looked a lot better than they expected, I just… wasn’t that scared anymore?” He shrugged. “I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like we’ve been trapped in amber for two weeks.”</p><p>“Yeah. It’s going to be so weird to go back to regular life after this,” Link said. He fiddled around with his hoodie string as he spoke. “At least we’ll have each other, you know? For moral support, or whatever.”</p><p>Rhett raised an eyebrow. “Oh, is that what you call it?” He stuck his hand under the blanket and ran it up Link’s thigh with a gasp. “Link! You’re not wearing any underwear.”</p><p>“You <em>just</em> gave me a blowjob. And it’s not like you’re wearing any, either,” Link pointed out. Rhett lifted up the blanket and peeked underneath.</p><p>“Huh, would you look at that.” He dropped the blanket and sat quietly for a moment. “It doesn’t bother you that I’m inexperienced?”</p><p>Link looked up at him, incredulous. “You’re not inexperienced! I mean, maybe you haven’t had sex with a man before, but there’s no way kissing and touching could be <em>that</em> different between a man and a woman.”</p><p>“You’ve never kissed a woman?” Rhett asked curiously.</p><p>“No, I have, in high school and college a few times, but I wasn’t into it, so it was pretty lackluster. Like your blowjob with the guy you didn’t like very much, I guess.”</p><p>“Have you ever <em>slept</em> with a woman?”</p><p>Link snorted. “No! I’ve never had the desire or the opportunity.”</p><p>“Huh.” Rhett leaned his head back against the pine headboard and stared up at the ceiling. Link rested his head on Rhett’s shoulder and tucked an arm around his waist. He could tell that Rhett was thinking deeply about something, but Link didn’t want to interrupt. Whatever it was, he knew that Rhett would share when he felt ready.</p><p>It took so long that Link was starting to drift off before Rhett spoke again. “So, Mel was asking about you,” he said.</p><p>“Yeah?” Link mumbled. He reached up and rubbed his eyes. “Good things, I hope.”</p><p>Rhett laughed. “Yeah, actually. She said you really seemed to care about me and it made her feel a lot better that someone here was looking out for me. And how much she appreciated that you asked how she was doing.”</p><p>Link sat up, more awake now. “I know, she told me that part.”</p><p>“So I haven’t told her I was interested in guys. Not because she’d be upset, but it was kind of hypothetical, you know?” Rhett said. He was looking up towards the ceiling again.</p><p>“Okay.” Link had a pretty clear idea where this was going, but Rhett had to get there himself.</p><p>“But it’s not hypothetical anymore, and she likes you.” </p><p>Link thought Rhett was going to say something else, but he didn’t. “Was that a question?”</p><p>Rhett shook his head. “No, but this is: can I take a selfie of us and send it to her?”</p><p>And there it was. “Sure,” Link answered. “But are you going to tell her neither one of us is wearing pants?”</p><p>“Nope.” Rhett held out his phone and took a picture as he kissed Link’s cheek. He showed the picture to Link for approval. In it, Link was laughing and Rhett was obviously smiling, even though only part of his face was visible.</p><p>“It’s good,” Link said. “You should send it to me, too.”</p><p>“‘Kay.” Rhett poked his phone screen a few times, and Link’s phone buzzed on the bedside table. Whatever text he was sending to Mel took a lot longer to write. There was a lot of tapping, sighs, deleting, and tapping again. Finally, he put the phone down on his lap and said, “I did it.” He looked faintly sick.</p><p>Link rubbed his chest in what he hoped was a soothing manner. “How do you feel?”</p><p>“Um, nervous. But not in a bad way.”</p><p>“Can I see what you wrote? If it’s okay with you.”</p><p>“Sure.” Rhett handed over the phone. Link read the text.</p><p>
  <em>I’ve known for a while that I was bi but I never said anything because I was still figuring it out</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But I think I have it figured out now</em>
</p><p>
  <em>[img]</em>
</p><p>
  <em>This is Link, you know him already. I really like him and he lives in LA</em>
</p><p>
  <em>So this is happening now</em>
</p><p>The phone buzzed as Link read. It was Mel’s answer.</p><p>
  <em>I had no idea but in retrospect it’s not a surprise</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Anyway, he’s cute. Good job</em>
</p><p>“I think you’re gonna be okay,” Link said as he handed the phone back.</p><p>Rhett let his breath out in a rush of relief. “Yeah. I mean, I was pretty sure it would be, but…” he trailed off.</p><p>“Yeah,” Link said. “I know.”</p><p>“Is it okay with you if I text her for a little while?” Rhett asked. “I don’t want to just lob that bombshell in her lap and run off.”</p><p>“Sure, go ahead.” Link shifted around and got comfortable with his head resting on Rhett’s shoulder. It was a companionable position, a closeness without any sexual attraction (even though they were both still naked from the waist down). He thought it was probably a good sign, that he wasn’t only physically attracted to Rhett. The more they actually talked to each other, instead of silently panicking or hiding in work, the more confident Link was that this was going to be a good thing.</p><p>He scrolled through Instagram on his phone while Rhett texted Mel. Occasionally, Rhett would ask him a question or show him a text, but for the most part, they just existed together, in the same space. Which, Link realized, they’d been doing all along.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Chapter 19</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Link’s alarm went off far earlier than he would have liked, but Evergreen Ridge was three hours from the airport, and they needed to be there extra early to deal with getting through security with their CDC paperwork.</p><p>He wasn’t looking forward to getting on a plane again. Link suspected that once he got home, he wouldn’t be flying for a long, long time. The Facebook group might have been called Evergreen Ridge Virus Hell, but for Link, Hell was always going to be a grounded 747.</p><p>Besides, Evergreen Ridge hadn’t been all bad. Link had made some friends, and he’d met Rhett. Smart, funny, handsome, enthusiastic Rhett. The more he came out of his dissertation shell, the more Link liked him, and he could tell that the more he relaxed, the more Rhett liked <em>him</em>.</p><p>But now this was their last morning at Evergreen Ridge. In an hour, they’d be on the bus, headed back to the outside world. It had only been three weeks since Link left for Paris, but it seemed like much longer.</p><p>All the loose ends had been wrapped up. The night before, they’d each had a final, thorough physical, and were given instructions on doctors to see in California for follow up care so the CDC could continue studying virus antibodies. Or something. Link wasn’t the best at keeping track of the medical stuff.</p><p>He and Rhett had had a long conversation before going to sleep about what was going to happen to their relationship when they returned to LA. Link was relieved to find that he and Rhett were mostly on the same page: they’d be exclusive, they’d slow down a little (or at least try to) in order to get to know each other more, but they were both serious about the relationship.</p><p>“Hey,” Link whispered as he gently patted Rhett’s shoulder. “Time to get up.”</p><p>“Nooo,” Rhett mumbled. He rolled over so he was on top of Link. “I don’t wanna.”</p><p>“Get off!” Link wheezed as the breath was crushed out of him. He shoved Rhett partially off him. “You don’t wanna stay here, do you?”</p><p>That woke Rhett up. His eyes popped open. “God, no.” He pushed himself up into a seated position and shuddered. “I’m so ready to go.”</p><p>They stumbled around the room in the usual daze of people going home after a long trip, shoving odds and ends into random pockets and doing their best to tidy up for housekeeping. Link wasn’t sure who was going to clean the room, but he left a generous tip anyway, and Rhett chipped in too. They figured that even if someone from the CDC or National Guard did the cleaning, they deserved a tip, too.</p><p>Finally, they were ready to go. Link had already said his goodbyes to his other friends, he had all his belongings, and the CDC had cleared him to travel. He walked out of Evergreen Ridge with Rhett. There was still snow on the ground, but the parking lot had been plowed and salted. Their sneakers and suitcase wheels crunched across the ground as they headed towards the chain link fences that the National Guard had erected.</p><p>“This is so weird,” Rhett said. Link had to agree. Inside the fence, The Authorities were wearing what Rhett had described as, “Hazmat Lite.” They had masks and gloves, but the Tyvek suits and goggles were gone. Outside, The Authorities wore no protective gear at all. It seemed pointless to Link, but he didn’t care.</p><p>As they walked through the gate, a CDC employee scanned their hospital bracelets one last time, and then cut them off with a pair of EMT shears. “Wait, can I keep it?” Link asked as she went to stick it in a trash receptacle.</p><p>“Sure.” She handed it back to him and Link tucked it into his pocket. The nurse turned to Rhett to cut his bracelet off, too. “You fellas ready to go home?” Link recognized her voice--she was the nurse who usually checked his vitals at his physical. He grinned. It was nice to see her face.</p><p>Rhett made a little polite small talk as she finished up, and then they were free to go. They walked to the bus, got their suitcases loaded up, and climbed aboard.</p><p>“Let’s sit here,” Link said, heading for the two seats behind the driver. </p><p>Rhett laughed. They were the same seats they’d sat in on their arrival. “You like stuff like this, don’t you? Meaningful, nostalgic stuff.”</p><p>“Yeah.” Link could tell he was blushing a little. He was absolutely smitten with Rhett. Even little things like that gave him butterflies.</p><p>“Here.” Rhett dug in his pocket and pulled something out. He handed it to Link, who gave him a confused look. It was Rhett’s hospital bracelet. He shrugged. “I wanted to give you something, but I don’t really have anything else, so...”</p><p>Link gave him a shy grin. “No, it’s perfect. Here…” He dug his own bracelet out and gave it to Rhett. “Take mine.” Rhett smiled back and took the bracelet.</p><p>They held hands and talked quietly as the bus filled up, unconscious of the people around them. They had each other, and that was all that mattered. And even when the bus started and pulled away from Evergreen Ridge and began to carry them back to civilization, they barely noticed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you all so much for reading (and all the lovely comments and kudos, etc)!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>visit us on Tumblr!<br/>@pinecontents<br/>@soho-x</p></blockquote></div></div>
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